My Soul Belongs To You
by Redpanda14
Summary: Merlin and Arthur love each other but are to oblivious to notice the others feelings. However, a cloaked figure is on it's way to Camelot in search of souls to collect. Only then do the two realise how much they care for one another. Merlin/Arthur
1. Somethings Coming

**A/N: **_Okay, so this is my first attempt at Arthur/Merlin paring. So if that's something you're no into, move away now and read something else. Otherwise, continue reading. Also, I have no Beta for this as I could no find one, so there are bound to be errors all over the place. If there is anyone willing to Beta the following chapters for me, then please leave a review or PM me to let me know you're interested. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Reviews are loved. =)_

* * *

Sometimes the way Arthur treated Merlin made him feel so angry, and yet, other times it would feel the complete opposite. Of course, right at this current moment, angry was probably the best word to describe how he felt. Arthur, being the royal prat he is, had been making Merlin muck out the stables, right after he'd already tidied his bed chambers as well as polish and cleaned Arthurs armour. He'd been at it for over four hours now.

Okay, maybe he wasn't that angry as he made himself out to be. As much as Merlin wished himself to be angry at the prince of Camelot, it was almost impossible. It didn't help that he was in love with the blonde haired, blue eyed complete and utter prat.

Even now, Merlin still wasn't sure what he had ever seen in Arthur in the first place. To be honest, he wasn't just sure, he had no idea whatsoever. The moment Merlin had stepped into Camelot and met Arthur, he found himself hating the arrogant prince for all that he was worth. But after he was appointed his manservant, Merlin began to realise the extreme amounts of pressure he was under due to his father and the citizens of the city. There was definitely a lot of strain on the prince's shoulders, which caused the sorcerer to see Arthur in a new light.

The number of times Merlin had found himself sacrificing everything for the prince's life was almost unbelievable even for him. But that didn't matter. All that Merlin cared about now was making sure he never lost the prince.

While cleaning out the stables, Merlin had no idea where Arthur was going, but he obviously was heading off somewhere. When Merlin had entered his chambers in the morning, he found Arthur's bed unoccupied yet again. Lately the prince had hardly been sleeping and it was beginning to worry the young sorcerer.

Even though Merlin had his limit with the princes abuse, Arthur was more arrogant and grumpier than ever due to the lack of sleep. Even though Merlin had queried about the sleep problems, the only response he ever got was _I have things on my mind, now quit asking!_ Of course, though, that hadn't stopped Merlin from trying to find out what was on the princes mind that had been keeping him awake at night.

Typically, he'd found nothing. Whatever it was, no one seemed to know what was wrong with the Arthur, even Morgana, with her manipulative mannerisms and probing of information had failed and come up empty apparently.

Finally managing to clean out the stables, Merlin made his way back to Arthur's chambers to see if there was anything else he could do for him. But when he arrived, Arthur was nowhere to be seen.

After giving it a thought for a few seconds, he made his way up to Morgana's chambers hoping she would know where he could find the prince.

"Sorry Merlin, I've yet to see him."

Sighing, he began to make his way out of her chamber, but found himself unable to when Morgana blocked the door.

"May I be blunt with you?" Morgana was up to something, it was quite easy to tell with the smug grin on her face.

"As long as it doesn't involve lose of limbs, then yeah, sure." Merlin answered back with an unnerving chuckle.

"When are you going to admit you're feelings for Arthur?"

_Hang on. What? She didn't just... she did. But how? How could she know? No one knows! Is it really that visible? Crap! Does Arthur know? _

Merlin's mouth and mind were trying to keep up with each other, but it seemed almost impossible. While the dreaded thoughts of the revelation of his feelings for Arthur were racing through his head, his mouth was opening and closing trying to form some form of logically response. But of course, there_ was _no logical response, not in this case.

"I don't know what you're going on about Morgana, but I really should be finding Arthur right now," he managed to force out eventually through the state of panic.

Merlin tried to push past Morgana, but she wasn't finished yet.

"Oh please, I see the way I look at him. I'm not blind, no matter how much people make it out to be. Now," she said clasping her hands together gleefully. "When do you plan on telling Arthur?"

"I... don't." Merlin couldn't look at Morgana in the face anymore. The solid floor beneath him was a lot better to look at, and a lot less frightening. "Please don't say anything to him... Does anyone else know?"

Rolling her eyes, Morgana walked away from the chamber door and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Of course not!" she said half horrified, half smug. "They don't have my amazing powers of deduction."

"Thanks Morgana... Can I go now?" Merlin asked as he slowly backed towards the door.

"Fine, but if you don't tell Arthur soon I'll have to do it for you."

"You wouldn't!" Wait, he thought, she would. No doubt about it. "You can't! He'd kill me. You know what he's like. If he even suspected that I loved him my life would be in ruin."

Before he could say anything else, Morgana was waving her hand airily in dismissal.

"Oh please, Arthur would never do that to you. You're his best friend," she paused leaning forward off the bed a little. "And who knows, maybe our beloved prince has feelings for a certain dark haired servant also."

It was the probably the first time Merlin had really laughed since entering Morgana's chamber.

"Oh come off it. Arthur? Love me? Yeah right. You do remember he's the prince right? As in expected to marry a _woman _and provide an heir for the throne. And If I remember correctly, I am sure as hell not a woman since the last time I checked."

Merlin placed his hand over his crutch for Morgana's amusement, "Yep, definitely not a woman."

Morgana didn't seem to be playing her games anymore. Instead she was giving Merlin a dead serious look.

"Believe me when I say that Arthur does care about you, no matter how much you care to think otherwise. Just please, for Arthur's sake, tell him."

"Fine," he lied as best he could. "But I need to find him first, are you sure you don't know where I can find him?"

"He left to go hunting a little while ago. Apparently he had trouble sleeping again last night, and decided to go hunting alone to take things off his mind. I could probably say the same." Morgana seemed to shiver slightly as if she'd been hit by a blast of cold air.

"Nightmares again?" Merlin queered.

"They're just dreams, nothing to worry about."

Now she was the one who was lying. But Merlin let it pass and got as quickly as he could out of her room, in hope that she wouldn't ask any more questions about his love for Arthur.

Once Merlin had closed the door to her chamber, Morgana walked to her window and looked down as Merlin scurried off back to Gaius, probably to find something to do until the oblivious prince returned.

Honestly, she didn't understand why the two didn't just tell each other how they felt and get it over with. Men. Such complex brainless creatures who can't even admit how they feel without it turning into sometime much more than it really should be.

Arthur would be back from hunting soon anyway, with any luck Merlin would take into account what she'd said to him. If it came to it, though, she would get involved. If only the two noticed how they treated each other, especially Arthur.

Past that hard exterior, deep down Arthur really loved Merlin. It was that obvious, to her anyway, seeing that she'd managed to get the information out of him through persuasion a few weeks back. If only they realised that they both loved each other, maybe then they would truly be happy.

*

It didn't take Merlin long to get back to Gaius's quarters. Why hadn't Arthur told him that he was going out hunting today? It didn't make sense, Arthur told Merlin pretty much everything, and vice versa. Everything except him being a warlock that is, if Arthur ever found out he would definitely have him killed. That he was fairly sure of, and if not Arthur, there was no doubt Uther would.

Closing the door behind him, Merlin sighed and walked across the floor to head towards his bed but got stopped by Gaius.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Well I was kind of hoping to get some rest," Merlin replied half asleep.

"There's no time for rest Merlin. I need you to go collect me some water from the fountain." Gaius gave Merlin a wooden bucket and directed him back out the door.

"This is so unfair," Merlin mumbled under his breath. "Last time I checked my destiny didn't entail getting water."

"Merlin, I realise you've been pushed hard lately by Arthur, but you must understand that you still have obligations other than the prince."

"I know," Merlin said. "Thing have just been a bit weird lately, that's all, and it's just getting to me."

"Would you like to talk about it?" Gaius asked softly.

"Nah, I'll be fine." It was sort of the truth, he would be okay on some level, but Morgana was right as always. Perhaps he really should tell Arthur his feelings, at least that way this whole business would be over.

"Okay, but if you ever need to talk about it..."

"I'll come and talk to you, I know," Merlin finished knowing what Gaius would say.

"Good. Well? What are you still standing around here for? Would you rather drink the bathwater again?"

He got the point. Leaving Gaius behind him, Merlin set out into the town eventually coming across the water fountain. Placing the bucket under the tap, he began pumping for the water. Seconds later the clear liquid came gushing out of the tap filling the bucket to the top.

Once the water had stopped running, Merlin picked it up and began heading back but was stopped when Gwen appeared.

"Hey Merlin, I was just looking for you. Well, not really looking for you, but I was trying to find you," she stammered trying to find the right words to say. "What I mean to say is, Arthur's back, he's looking for you."

"Great," he responded sarcastically. "Just what I needed."

"Anyway, I'll see you later." With a wide smile and a cheery wave, Gwen disappeared just as quick back into the crowd to attend to her duties.

Merlin huffed in annoyance. There was no rest for the wizard these days, it was just do this, do that, go fetch me water, why aren't you doing something instead of standing there like an idiot? It really was starting to get on his nerves.

It was beginning to get dark now. The sky was fading away as the stars, hidden by the clouds earlier, had begun to appear.

Once Merlin gave the bucket of water back to Gaius, he made his way to the prince's chambers and entered.

"Finally! What took you so long? I've been waiting forever for you," Arthur complained looking less than impressed.

"I'm sorry sire," Merlin apologized. "I've just been a bit busy lately, that's all. Did the hunting go well today?"

"I didn't go hunting," Arthur admitted as he examined his armour Merlin polished earlier. No doubt he was looking for specks of dirt Merlin had missed to nag him about. "I told everyone that to get some time to myself, that's one thing about this place, you can never get any peace and quiet."

"Tell me about it," Merlin grumbled.

"What was that?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, nothing," Merlin said with a slight chuckle suddenly feeling a bit better. "You could have at least told me where you were going, it's not like I would have said anything."

The prince shrugged his shoulders as he looked out the window at the darkening sky.

"Yes, well, I was trying to forget about you. I mean, you're always so irritating I'm surprised I haven't killed you yet."

The way Arthur seemed to be stammering made Merlin wonder about what Morgana had told him earlier that afternoon.

"You wouldn't do that," Merlin tested giving the prince his most impressive grin yet. "You love me too much to do that."

Arthur turned away from the window and looked at Merlin disgusted.

"Don't make me throw up. Who would ever want to love a clumsy idiot like you?"

Merlin took one glance at the prince before turning around and leaving Arthur alone as he slammed the door shut after him in. So much for Morgana being right this time. The way Arthur looked at him, it was a way he never had before. Full of hatred, but he was right. Who in their right mind would ever want to love Merlin? So far in his life, he'd never been kissed let alone anything more.

Arthur stood still realising what he'd said. How could he be so stupid? Merlin was everything to him, his life, his every waking thought, and he'd just told him no one could possibly love him. I guess it was just those words coming from Merlin's own mouth that caused his outburst. _You love me too much to do that. _He was right though, Arthur did love Merlin way more than he really should. Arthur was going to be hitting himself upside the head for the whole night trying to think of some way to apologize to Merlin. He really didn't mean what he said. Ever since Merlin came into the prince's life it had been so much better. There was something about Merlin that irritated the hell out of him, that being that he loved his manservant so much. The way that no matter what the situation, Merlin always had a way of making him feel better about himself, even cause him to laugh at the extremely pathetic and sarcastic remarks that weren't even funny.

The only person that new about his feelings was Morgana. Somehow she'd managed to force out of him his feelings for Merlin, even now he still had no idea how she had been able to do it. That was a few weeks ago now, since then she'd been trying to get him to admit his feelings to Merlin. Yeah, as if that was ever going to happen. There was no way, let along any point, that would cause him to tell Merlin his feelings, mostly because he already knew – well, thought he knew – the answer. As soon as Arthur would admit he was in love to his servant, he could already picture Merlin laughing in his face.

Ever since Morgana begged him to tell Merlin, he found himself unable to sleep and he didn't know why. Not even Gaius's sleeping drafts were working. It was as if some higher being was trying to force him into telling Merlin everything, but there was no way he was going to give in. Eventually the feeling would pass though; it was just a phase, nothing to worry about. Sooner or later he'd find a nice woman to love and everything would be back to normal.

That thought alone somehow disturbed Arthur. As much as he found himself wishing to be with a woman, every time he'd tried to picture being with a woman, and, or man, it always turned out to be Merlin he was thinking about.

Rubbing his hand through his hair, Arthur fell backwards onto his bed closing his eyes hoping that maybe he might get some sleep. He never did.

*

_Eyes as black as the midnight sky transfixed themselves right at her, it was like looking down into the darkness of a well as it drowned her in its evil. You knew what was down there, but you could never really find out until you put the bucket down. And then she saw Arthur. The black cloaked figure began whispering words, the next thing she knew was Arthur clutching his chest as a misty light arose out of Arthur's body and drifted over to the cloaked sorcerer. The sorcerer opened his mouth to reveal his razor sharp teeth as the light disappeared inside of his mouth,seconds later he closed it. Then the man walked away, leaving Arthur on the ground motionless. He was still alive, she was certain of that, but he seemed dead as well. His breathing was still the same, and he blinked normally, but just lay there as if he didn't know how to get up, an empty vessel waiting for orders but never to receive any. It was horrible, it was worse than death. Then everything felt so cold, she began having trouble trying to breathe as the blackness of the man's cloak appeared from behind choking her. _

Morgana woke up gasping for breath. Gwen appeared by her bedside in moments as she cradled her in her arm.

"It's okay, it was only a nightmare. It wasn't real." Gwen continued on comforting her as she finally calmed down, but that didn't stop her from worrying. That was the third time she'd had the same dream, and each time it felt stronger like it was getting closer.

Morgana placed a kiss on Gwen's lips before she left, leaving her in the room alone once again. Something was coming to Camelot, she could feel it.

_To be continued..._


	2. Holding On

**A/N: **_Wow, I seriously can't believe how many of you put this story on alert! I guess that means my first attempt at Arthur/Merlin isn't as bad as I originally thought it would be. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it just as much as the previous. Also thank you to those of you who took your time to review, that means you LadyFromPoland and Tefnut Talvi! I'd give you cookies in return, but I'm afraid they just don't want to go into my computer. So a cyber hug will have to do. *hugs* Enjoy this chapter people! Reviews are loved. _

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Merlin didn't think twice about returning to Arthur's chamber that night, instead he headed straight to Gaius. The moment he walked in the door, Gaius immediately suspected something was wrong.

"Is everything alright Merlin?" Gaius asked as he closed one of books he happened to be reading.

"I'm just dandy," Merlin replied sarcastically before sighing. "Is there anything you need me to do before I go to bed?"

"I see Arthur relived you of your duties early tonight, is something wrong between you two? Because if there is, you can tell me," Gaius asked kindly.

Merlin wasn't sure if Gaius new of his feelings towards Arthur, but if he did there had been no sign that he cared about it or not.

"Why do we love, Gaius? When in the end all it does is break our hearts," Merlin asked.

"To be truthful, I really don't know," Gaius replied honestly. "There have been many reasons and explanations about love, but no one really has an answer. Is this about Arthur?"

Merlin nodded. Maybe he did know Merlins feelings for the prince after all.

"Sometimes I wish I didn't love him so much," he said after a while.

"Arthur cares for you Merlin, anyone in their right mind can see that. They just need to know where to look." Gaius pulled up two chairs and sat down on one. Leaving Merlin to decide whether or not he wished to sit down also, eventually he did.

"You sound like Morgana," Merlin grumbled.

"Well she's right Merlin, maybe you should listen to her more often?" Gaius suggested.

"If he cares so much about me, why does he treat me the way he does?" Merlin said rubbing the back of his neck.

"Maybe it's the only way he knows how to show his love to you? Like I said Merlin, I'm no expert on love, but I do know that it holds unbelievable power on people. There certainly isn't a cure either, not that I'm aware of."

"Of course there isn't," Merlin said sarcastically, "Because that would just make things way too easy."

"Don't be like that," Gaius replied. "As much as love is a curse, it is also a wonderful thing. What you and Arthur share is special, you're like two sides of the one coin."

"So I keep getting told," he responded getting up from his chair, trying not to think about the subject anymore. "Anyway, I'm going to try and get some sleep, see you in the morning."

"Goodnight," Gaius said allowing Merlin to head to his room.

Slipping out of his clothes and into his pyjamas, Merlin pulled the covers over him, staring up at the ceiling thinking about what to do about Arthur.

Maybe he should tell Arthur after all. He couldn't possibly feel any worse after he told him than he did now. Tomorrow, Merlin decided closing his eyes to get some rest. Tomorrow he would tell Arthur how he felt and get this all over with.

*

Morning came quicker than Merlin expected, and already he was late to start his duties as usual. Grabbing his clothes, Merlin got changed and headed straight to the castle without eating breakfast.

Once there, he made his way straight to the kitchen quickly preparing Arthur's breakfast. Hopefully he wouldn't be that angry at him for his outburst last night. Merlin never intended to lose it like he did, so with any luck the prince would just let it pass. Either that, or as soon as he entered Arthur's chambers he would have him thrown in the stocks.

He soon regretted not knocking first before he entered Arthur's chambers, because as he entered he found himself dropping the tray of food onto the floor. The contents rolled across the floor towards the figure of Arthur in all his naked glory.

Merlin quickly diverted his eyes from Arthur. He didn't notice Arthur go bright red with embarrassment as he quickly grabbed a pillow off his bed to stop Merlin from noticing he was going hard.

"Don't you knock?" Arthur snapped, but it was really more of a desperate squeak.

"Sorry, I figured you'd be dressed already." Merlin still had his head turned away from Arthur, trying to think of something, anything that would take his mind off the naked prince.

"Never assume," Arthur said before slowly removing the pillow from his crutch. "Seeing that your here now, you can help me get dressed. I'm going hunting today."

Merlin turned his head back towards Arthur, trying the best he could to prevent himself from staring at Arthur's crutchs. He was failing badly at it.

"By yourself?" Merlin asked, grabbing the prince's undergarments from the drawers in a desperate attempt to prevent himself looking at Arthur.

"No, you're coming with me," Arthur replied as Merlin gave him a pair of black breeches, turning around again to allow him to put them on. "You don't have to turn away from me, you know?"

"Believe me, I'd rather turn around," Merlin lied sounding unconvincing even to himself.

Eventually, though, Merlin turned around thankfully to see a half dressed prince. It was much less embarrassing now, but of course, he never realised that Arthur was still blushing. Instead, Merlin helped him into his suit of armour.

This was as close to the prince as the young sorcerer would ever really get, but he still felt that he needed to tell Arthur how he felt. Placing the final piece of armour on Arthur, Merlin took a step back and examined the beauty before him.

"Well?" Arthur questioned, "How do I look?"

"Gorgeous," Merlin replied not realising what he said until Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"I'm... gorgeous, am I?"

"No, what I meant is handsome. That's the word I was looking for," Merlin stammered only to receive a laugh from the prince.

"So I'm handsome now, am I? Really, Merlin, you must stop flattering me with all these lovely comments of yours. One day I might even respond to one of them."

Before he knew what was happening, Arthur had Merlin in a headlock and was rubbing his head playfully through his hair with his knuckles.

"Hey! That's not fair, let go, it's starting to hurt," Merlin yelped as his scalp began to burn. Arthur immediately let go of his hair and apologized. Sort of.

"Don't be such a baby," Arthur remarked.

"Didn't you know? I can't help it," Merlin said smugly.

For a few moments the two of them just stood there exchanging glances, loosing themself in the sight of the other. It was only when Merlin spoke up that they broke the exchange.

"Arthur, I've been meaning to tell you something for a while now," Merlin started slowly. His body seemed to tremble underneath him while he tried to think of the right words to say.

"I don't have all day, spit it out," Arthur pushed.

"What I'm trying to say is that I..."

Merlin was cut off as Uther entered the room.

"There you are, I've been looking all over for you," Uther said to Arthur, completely ignoring Merlin's presence in the room.

"Sorry father, Merlin was late again this morning," Arthur admitted staring behind Uther directly towards him. It was only then that Uther acknowledged his presence.

"Really?" Uther said giving Merlin an icy glare before turning back to Arthur. "Well he'll have plenty of time to think over it when I have him thrown in the stocks."

Arthur shook his head. "It wouldn't make any difference, he's clumsy, always has been, always will. I'm surprised I've been able to put up with him for this long. And anyway, I need him today. Myself and Merlin are going out hunting."

"Well be careful," Uther warned. "There have been sightings of a man dressed in black from the surrounding towns, and each time he's been sighted, illness follows him in his wake."

"What sort of illnesses?" Merlin asked trying to get involved in the conversation.

"I'm not sure, but I believe magic is responsible. I've just sent Gaius to the closest town only a few miles from here to diagnose the illness and find some form of cure," Uther replied. "Just be careful while out in the forest, and if you see any sign of this man, don't hesitate to kill on sight."

"I promise," Arthur said bowing his head slightly to the king.

"Good, that is all. Make sure you're back before dark."

Uther left the room in silence, once his footsteps had echoed away, Merlin spoke up.

"I don't think it's such a good idea going into the forest by ourselves. Shouldn't we get some of the other soldiers to come also?"

"Don't be stupid Merlin, I can handle myself. And anyway, I'm trying to have some time to myself, and I think it kind of defeats the purpose if I have other people coming with me," Arthur replied.

"Then, why are you making me come with you?" Merlin asked.

"Well... I thought it would be nice to have the company," Arthur replied sounding unsure what to say.

"Oh? Really?" Merlin chuckled slightly and the prince went red.

"I can always have my father put you into the stocks, you know?" Arthur snapped back causing Merlin to quieten down. "Now, what were you trying to say before?"

Merlin froze, he'd forgotten completely about telling Arthur his feelings. "I have no idea, mustn't have been that important," Merlin lied.

"Okay," Arthur didn't mention the topic again. Instead they both headed down towards the stables and got onto their horses, stopping off at the kitchen on the way there to get some bread to eat for the trip.

Before long the two were riding out of Camelot into the forest, once they'd reached the darkest part, both of them dismounted theor horses and began scanning the area for anything to hunt. Well, Arthur did anyway; Merlin was too busy entranced by the prince's body to notice any of the creatures nearby.

Suddenly Arthur noticed a deer grazing peacefully up ahead in a small opening. Raising his crossbow, he slowly aimed directly at the unsuspecting animal. It was only then that Merlin noticed Arthur fumble pulling the trigger, moments later the arrow was released from the crossbow, flying past the deer missing it completely.

"Damn!" Arthur cursed looking towards Merlin. He hadn't paid much attention up until now, but the prince looked absolutely tired. There were dark circles directly underneath his eyes making him look a lot older than he actually was.

"Are you okay?" Merlin said placing his hand on Arthur's shoulder softly.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Arthur snapped back.

"Fine, be like that. Sorry I care." Merlin removed his hand from Arthur's shoulder and began walking back to the horses, but then a sudden tightness around his left hand caused him to whirled around to find Arthur holding his hand.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to go off at you like that," Arthur apologized looking directly at Merlin with a slight smile. "I'm also sorry about the way I've been treating you latly, about last night.. I didn't mean what I said."

Merlin couldn't help but smile back with a grin, "You're so sentimental it's sad."

"Yeah, well, you have that effect on me," Arthur laughed letting go of Merlin's hand eventually.

"We probably should be chasing after that deer," Merlin suggested.

Arthur nodded and the two began walking in the direction the deer had fled. It was then that Merlin heard rustling behind the trees off to his side, moments later a dark cloaked figure emerged from the foliage.

Merlin felt him body paralyse as he stared down into the coal black eyes of the cloaked figure. He could sense the powerful dark magic that this figure possessed, and that along made Merlin's blood turn cold.

"Arthur, I can't move!" Merlin managed to say, eyes darting away from the sorcerer as he attempted to move away. He tried casting a spell, but nothing was working. He was powerless.

Removing his sword from his belt, Arthur charged towards the sorcerer but was thrown back by an invisable force hurtling him into a tree, his sword flying away in the oppisite direction.

Words echoed in Merlin's head causing him to feel weak as if all his strength was being drained away from his body. Merlin's eyes flickered back to the sorcerer as he walked closer towards him, mouth gaping wider revealing the void behind the dry cracked lips.

That was the last thing Merlin remembered before the last ounce of strength left his body. He didn't even feel his body collapse onto the forest floor.

*

Arthur couldn't do anything but watch as the sorcerer crept towards Merlin. Moments later a bright light drifted out of Merlin's chest and floated towards the dark cloaked figure and into his mouth.

Merlin collapsed to the ground, his head cracking against a rock. Arthur could see a trail of blood forming on the leafy forest floor.

"What have you done!?" Arthur said struggling to get up, but the sorcerer didn't reply. Instead he drifted away back into the darkness of the forest, leaving Merlin motionless on the ground.

Rushing over to Merlin, Arthur bent down and checked if he was still alive. He was still breathing, barely, and there was a shallow wound on the back of his head where the rock had impacted.

The most horrible thing of all, though, was Merlin's eyes. They were cold, no speck of life was visible, just the everlasting coldness.

"Merlin, are you there?" He began tapping gently on Merlin's face with his hand, trying to get his attention, but nothing was working. Merlin was just lying there, blinking occasionally, but not responding to anything Arthur did or said.

"Stop fooling around, this isn't funny!"

Terrible thoughts raced through Arthur's mind. What if Merlin was like this forever? What if he never got the chance to tell Merlin that he loved him?

Arthur lowered his voice and spoke softly into Merlin's ear. "I don't want to lose you Merlin. Do you have any idea how miserable I'll be if I had to get another servant?"

Merlin didn't reply, instead he just continued to lay there unphased by the world around him.

Arthur placed his head above Merlins and lowered himself until their lips brushed together softly, hoping that Merlin might snap out of whatever trance he was in. Arthur didn't know how long he'd been kissing Merlin, but eventually he parted away, watching for any sign of movement.

He needed to get back to Camelot, Gaius hopefully would've return by now. He was the only person that would possibly know what was wrong and how to cure Merlin.

Picking up Merlin off the ground, Arthur dragged him back to where they'd left the horses. It took some effort, but he eventually managed to place Merlin at the front of the saddle of his own horse. Attaching a rope to Merlin's horse to his own, Arthur jumped on behind Merlin placing his arms around him to prevent the dark haired boy from falling off.

Without thinking twice, Arthur nudged the horse's side with his feet and they began their way back to Camelot.

*

Arthur cleared the table in Gaius's quarters, laying Merlin on the wooden surface.

"What happened?" Gaius asked as his eyes widened at the sight of Merlin.

"In the forest, he was attacked by a sorcerer. I couldn't do anything to stop him, I'm sorry, god I'm so sorry Gaius," Arthur paced around the room anxiously while Gaius studied Merlin.

"He's showing the same symptoms the people have in the nearby village," Gaius remarked turning towards Arthur. "I need you to tell me everything that happened. Merlins life may depend on it."

So he did. Arthur explained everything right down to the light that left Merlin and into the sorcerer's mouth.

"Oh god," Gaius stated looking back at Merlin in horror.

"What? What is it? Tell me what's wrong with him," Arthur stood next to Merlin as he lay there still.

"I can't be completely sure, but I believe Merlin's soul has been taken. Whoever did this possesses extremely dark magic, none of which I've seen the likes of before in my lifetime."

"Is there a cure?" Arthur asked hopefully.

By the way Gaius looked away, it gave him the answer he needed.

"There has to be something we can do, anything!"

Gaius swiftly walked to one of the bookshelves and began searching through the books until he came across the one he wanted. Pulling it out and blowing the dust off it, he began flicking through the pages until he stopped.

"Souls?" Arthur asked as he read the page, "I've heard of them before."

"Well then your one of few, only those who study the history of magic know about them. Almost every single creature has a soul no matter what. It's like our life force, without it we'd be an empty shell, and I believe that this sorcerer is stealing them. I don't know why exactly, but whatever the reason it's for evil purposes."

"But, then, how can we get Merlin's back? He can't stay like this forever. I _won't_ let him stay like this forever," Arthur couldn't bear to look at Merlin any longer, those eyes...

"I'm sorry Arthur, but there's no cure, once your soul is taken there's no way to get it back. This is way beyond me, there's only one person that might be able to help, though." Gaius gave Arthur a stern look as if he was trying to figure out if he could trust Arthur or not.

"Who? For god's sake, Gaius, tell me!" Arthur pleaded.

"The Great Dragon."

_To be continued..._


	3. Soul Exchange

**A/N: **_Wow, seriously guys, you wouldn't believe how gobsmacked I was when I opened my inbox this morning to find how many of you put this on your story alert and favourite list. I'll just point out again that I do not have a Beta for this story, which is why you may find so many errors. And I'll also repeat again that I have hardly watched the show much to my dismay, so I realise my characters may be a bit off. Hugs to SaphiraMorgan, faith bonksie, unicorndiva and LadyFromPoland for reviewing. I hope you enjoy this chapter, reviews are always loved. =)_

* * *

The flame from the torch Arthur was carrying filled the tunnels beneath Camelot with its light. Somewhere down here laid the Great Dragon according to Gaius.

Arthur had heard rumours about the magical beast that had been captured and placed under the city, but never did he believe the speculations for a second.

Walking down a set of stairs, Arthur found himself in a colossal underground cavern. The torch illuminated only a little further than the small perch of rock he happened to be standing on, beyond that it was impossible to tell how far the cavern extended.

The cavern suddenly shook with tremendous force as an unimaginable roar and the sound of flapping wings echoed around him. As much as Arthur would have loved to have turned back and run that very moment, he couldn't. He wasn't going to let Merlin down, whatever it took he would save him, no matter what the consequences.

He could make out a shadowy figure flying overhead, circling downwards towards him eventually stopping in front of him, the flickering torch revealing the mythical creature he'd heard about.

"Young Pendragon, what a surprise to see you here," the Dragon said.

It took a few moments for Arthur gather up enough courage to say anything back to the beast.

"I need your help... Merlin's in trouble."

For some reason, the dragon just laughed which angered Arthur.

"You already know what to do young Pendragon, you don't need my help."

"If I already knew, then please explain to me why I'm wasting my time with you?" Arthur snapped.

Again, all the Dragon did was laugh.

"Your soul is more important than any other, forget about Merlin. His time to serve you has come to pass."

"No!" Arthur said fighting back the urge to throw his sword at the winged beast as best he could. "I will _not_ forget about Merlin. He means more to me than anyone ever will, and if you think I'm just going to give up on him, then you have another thing coming."

The Dragon didn't move for a while, instead he stared intensely at Arthur through his ancient eyes.

"You're willing to do anything to save Merlin? No matter what?" the creature asked.

"Yes," Arthur replied instantly, he didn't need to think about that to reply with an answer.

"Even though he's a sorcerer himself?" the Dragon barred his teeth at Arthur who wasn't sure he heard the Dragon correctly.

"A what?" Arthur asked again.

"Merlin isn't just a normal human, he possesses extremely powerful magic. If you're going to save him, you're going to have to do everything I say. Do you understand?"

Arthur wasn't sure how to respond to what the Dragon was telling him. Merlin was a warlock? Impossible! There was no way Merlin could possibly possess magic of any sorts. He was just... Merlin, his loyal manservant and the only person he really ever loved. If he was a sorcerer, why hadn't he told him? Though, that was a stupid question to ask, of course he wouldn't have told Arthur. Magic was forbidden in the kingdom. If Merlin truly did possess magic, then he would know better than anyone what would happen if anyone found out. Was that perhaps what Merlin was trying to tell him this morning before his father interrupted? If so, then who knows how he would've reacted. But that didn't matter anymore. Either way, if he really was a sorcerer then Arthur didn't care. All that he wanted now was Merlin back in his life.

"I understand," Arthur replied finally.

The Dragon cleared his throat causing a small stream of fire to flare out of his nostrils.

"Souls are irreplaceable, if one is to be returned, another must take its place willingly."

It took a moment for Arthur to understand what the Dragon meant by that, but eventually the lights upstairs kicked in.

"But that's not right! Why should another person have to suffer the same fate as Merlin?" Arthur said.

"This is the way of nature works, young Pendragon. It must be kept in balance at all costs. The choice is yours, find someone to take Merlin's place and return to the sorcerer who stole his soul, or watch his body wither away and die."

Arthur opened his mouth to reply, but the sudden beating of wings caused the torch to go out as the Dragon flew away into the cavern.

How was he going to find someone else to willingly give up their own soul for Merlin's? There just wasn't anyone who would do it.

"Merlin..." Arthur whispered to himself.

*

News spread pretty quickly throughout the entire castle about Merlin's condition by now. Uther had already asked Arthur to start looking for another servant, the thing was he didn't _want_ another servant, he wanted Merlin.

Of course, as soon as Morgana heard the news, it didn't take her long to find Arthur.

"How could you let this happen?" Morgana said slapping Arthur across the face more than once.

"Ow!" Arthur cringed, rubbing his hand over his swollen red cheek, quickly backing away as Morgana prepared to strike yet again.

"You idiot! You should've known better than to go alone into the forest, because of you Merlin's life is in peril. I hope you're proud of yourself Arthur Pendragon."

Arthur faced away from Morgana, she was right of course. It was his fault that Merlin had his soul taken away in the first place.

"This was never supposed to have happened," Arthur said. "It should be me that's laying there, not Merlin."

"You're damn right it should! Do you have any idea where you'd be without Merlin? You'd be hopeless, that's what. He was going to tell you himself, but it looks like he's never going to get the chance now, doesn't it?" Morgana crossed her arms, giving Arthur a deathly stare that burnt right through him.

"Tell me what?" Arthur asked only to receive another slap across the face.

"You're so thick! You can't even see what's directly in front of your eyes. Merlin loved you, he always loved you, but of course you were too oblivious to realise."

"Very funny Morgana," Arthur replied sarcastically not believing a word she said. "You really do love toying with my feelings don't you? I get it, it's my fault. You don't have to rub it in."

Morgana growled in frustration, looking as if she could kill Arthur then and there.

"Did it ever occur to you why Merlin put up with your never ending insults and complaining? And don't give me some pathetic excuse saying that he had too, it was more than that. Merlin put up with you because for some idiotic reason, he saw something in you that I never would've noticed."

Arthur's eyes suddenly widened as everything suddenly became clear.

"Oh god," Arthur coughed, suddenly feeling nauseous, "What have I done?"

"I'm sure you're feeling pretty bad about yourself right about now, so I guess my work here is done."

Leaving that final note for Arthur to think about, Morgana spun dramatically around and walked away around the corner leaving Arthur alone in the corridor.

Merlin loved him... why didn't he say something? Yes, Arthur had realised Merlin cared about him on some level, but never in his life did he even consider that his servant loved him. What else had he been hiding from him? First the Dragon informed him that Merlin is a sorcerer, and not long after that Morgana tells him he was also in love with Arthur.

Today just couldn't get any better.

Sighing, Arthur managed to drag himself back towards his chambers. Once there, he pushed opened the window, allowing the cool breeze to circulate through the room leting his thoughts run wild as the Great Dragon's words echoed through his mind.

There was no way anyone would willingly allow themselves to be sacrificed to save a simple manservant. No one really knew Merlin like Arthur did, so to everyone else Merlin was just another servant, he could easily be replaced and no one would look back twice.

Arthur didn't deserve Merlin as a friend, after all this time why did he realise only now that Merlin cared for him?

The daylight outside began to fade away as the sun was swallowed up by the horizon. Arthur tried to take his mind off everything as he attempted to get some sleep, but all he could think about was Merlin.

*

Morgana woke up panting after having the same dream, Arthur lying there still and cold, alive but dead all at the same time. On her way back from dinner, she'd stopped by to see how Merlin was doing. There had been no sign of improvement according to Gaius, infact he seemed to be getting worse. Already Uther had pretty much announced Merlin dead.

Gwen sat next to her bed and begun wringing out a piece of cloth after soaking it with water. She then placed the drenched cloth over Morgana's forehead to bring down her temperature.

"Nightmares again?" Gwen asked softly running her free hand through Morgana's hair.

"I'm afraid, Gwen," Morgana whispered. "I don't know what to make of my dreams anymore. What if my dream comes true and Arthur becomes a victim to this sorcerer that attacked Merlin?"

"What makes you think that?" Gwen dunked the cloth back in the bucket yet again, and dampened Morgana's face with the cool liquid.

"It wouldn't be the first time they've become real," she replied.

Gwen placed a reassuring kiss on Morgana's lips which suddenly made her feel slightly better.

"You worry too much, I'm pretty sure Arthur can take care of himself."

"No he can't, not without Merlin," Morgana said, wilfully allowing her mind to drift back into the realm of sleep as a cloaked figure entered the gates of Camelot.

*

Arthur tossed and turned in his bed, trying to get some sleep but it was no use. He needed Merlin there with him. He had always needed Merlin to be with him.

Screaming from outside caused Arthur to fall off his bed, before he knew what was going on a guard entered his room.

"Sorry to interrupt your sleep, sire. But half of our guards are lying on the ground in the streets, it's exactly the same as what's happened in the other villages. Also, there have been sightings of the black cloaked figure, but so far no one has been able to stop him. Your father has ordered me to tell you to dispose of this person. "

That barstard! He was in Camelot collecting more souls. Arthur felt a sudden rage fill him. Whoever it was, they'd so picked the wrong person to mess with.

"Tell him I'm on my way," Arthur snapped grabbing his sword, placing it in the seath on his side, he hadn't even taken his armour off from earlier that day.

Running through the castle, Arthur didn't stop until he reached Gaius's quarters.

"I need Merlin," Arthur panted.

"What for?" Gaius replied, removing his hand from Merlin's forehead.

He looked a lot worse than he did when Arthur had brought him back, droplets of sweat covered Merlins face as he began to burn up.

"Stop asking stupid questions and just help me get Merlin outside!" Arthur yelled desperately.

"Yes sire," Gaius said reluctantly as they both put one of Merlin's arms over their shoulders and helped the young warlock outside.

Once outside, Arthur ordered Gaius back to his quarters.

"What do you intend on doing?" Gaius asked before walking away.

"It doesn't matter," Arthur said lifting Merlin over his broad shoulders. "Just make sure your door is locked."

As ordered, Gaius returned to his quarters locking the door behind him.

The city street was scattered with the bodies of the guards, their eyes cold and lifeless.

Arthur scanned the streets looking for any sign of the sorcerer. Eventually a glimpse of a black cloak drifting around a corner got his attention.

Quickly dashing around the corner, Arthur found himself only meters away from the sorcerer as he continued moving along the narrow street.

"Stop! or I don't hesitate to kill you where you stand," Arthur threatened, even though he knew that he had no hope in facing the evil that stood in front of him.

The figure stoped and spun around silently, his black cloak wavering in the breeze as his coal black eyes stared into Arthur's.

"I propose a deal," Arthur said placing Merlin on the ground beside him.

The whistling of the wind around him was suddenly blocked out as his mind was filled with a unsympathetic and cruel voice.

"What kind of deal," the voice sneered as the cloaked figure began walking towards him.

"My soul for Merlins," Arthur gasped as a sudden tightness in his throat threatened to choke him. "Mine's worth ten times the amount of his."

The sorcerer's head tilted to the side as he examined Arthur then Merlin who lay on the ground.

"You would sacrifice your own life for a pathetic servant?"

"I would," Arthur said bending down to the ground, placing Merlin's hand in his. "He means everything to me, and if this is the only way I can repay my mistakes, then so be it. Do we have a deal?"

There was a brief silence that caused Arthur's blood to run cold as the sorcerer made his decision.

"Yes."

Arthur closed his eyes and planted a kiss on Merlins lips.

"I'm sorry."

Standing up, Arthur stood still as the sorcerer began chanting words that he'd never heard before.

Arthur felt as if his body was going to give out under him as he found himself getting weaker by the moment. Pain throbbed through his chest causing him to clutch it in agony as his vision began to go blurry and making him lose focus of his surroundings.

The last thing Arthur saw was the sorcerer's mouth gaping wider, revealing his razor sharp teeth as his soul was purged out of his body as he remembered the Dragon's words.

"_Souls are irreplaceable, if one is to be returned, another must take its place willingly."_

*

Arthur's body fell to the ground with a loud thump. Moments later a golden light left the sorcerer's mouth, as it circled above Merlin's lifeless body before disappearing into his chest.

Merlin woke up coughing, blood trickled down from his lip down onto his chin. It only took him a few seconds to remember what had happened, the forest, the sorcerer.

The first thing that caught Merlin's attention was Arthur's body lying lifeless on the ground beside him.

"Get up!" Merlin grabbed the prince's shoulders and began shaking him in attempt to wake Arthur up, but nothing worked.

It was then that Merlin noticed a shadow casting down upon him. Turning his head ever so slightly, Merlin glared fiercely at the dark shape watching him. The young watched as the sorcerer raised his hand, a cruel smile resting on his thin cracked lips.

Merlin's eyes flashed gold as dark clouds began to fill the sky. Lightning filled the air, shortly followed by cracks of thunder. Moments later, multiple strikes of lightning surged downwards hitting the sorcerer over at over again sparing no mercy.

Seconds later the cloaked sorcerer dropped to the ground as the skies began to clear of the lightning clouds. Smoke arose from the dead sorcerer's body as the smell of burnt flesh filled the air.

"Arthur get up!" Merlin pleaded shaking him again, but he didn't respond. Instead he just stared at Merlin with cold eyes, blinking occasionally.

"Stop it! Get up!" Tears began to roll down Merlin's face as the realisation finally hit him as if someone had drove a rusty dagger into his heart. Arthur was never going to wake up.

Placing his head on Arthur's chest and his arms around his waist, Merlin closed his eyes as he lay on the ground next to Arthur crying as the guards drew closer.

_To be continued..._


	4. Torn In Half

**A/N: **_Talk about overkill on the story alerts guys! I mean, a couple is okay, but this is nuts! I'm so glad people are liking this. It's technically my NaNoWriMo story, so with any luck this will be a long, long, long story. But seeing that I have to get 50,000 words done in a month in a hurry, there's always bound to be mistakes... Anyway, all of you who have this story on alert, it'd be really nice to hear your opinons on this story. As I've stated before, reviews are always loved. Enjoy, and I'll update soon-ish._

* * *

As soon as the guards came across Merlin he was immediately arrested and taken to Uther. No one really knew what happened, not even Merlin was sure what had happened. All that he did know, though, was that Arthur wasn't responding to anyone, he just lay there silently as if he didn't care what was going on around him.

One of the guards pushed Merlin to his knees forcefully in front of Uther.

"You killed my son," Uther growled through gritted teeth as he hovered above Merlin.

"I didn't do anything, I swear!" Merlin denied trying to stand up, but the guard behind him pushed him back to the ground again violently.

Out of the corner of his eye, Merlin noticed Gwen and Morgana standing in their sleeping attire with shocked looks on their faces as they noticed him.

"Morgana!" he called across the room. "What's going on?"

Uther knelt down and grabbed Merlin's neck and began to squeeze, causing him to feel dizzy and lightheaded.

"You will speak when you are spoken too, slave. Tomorrow you will be executed for your crimes, until then you will be placed in the cells."

"But I didn't do anything wrong," Merlin choked out as Uther began to squeeze even tighter.

Morgana finally was done with standing on the sideline and decided to get involved.

"Must you blame someone else for the fault of others, Uther? Merlin has done nothing wrong, you're just looking for someone to punish."

Merlin felt Uther slowly release his grip on his throat, suddenly finding himself being able to breathe again.

Uther glared at Morgana thoroughly before slapping her across the face.

"I will not tolerate being spoken to like that. As you are under my protection you will do as I say, that means not question my judgement!"

"So what? You're willing to kill an innocent person just to rectify your son? Because it won't bring him back," Morgana snapped back looking as if she could murder the king then and there.

It didn't seem to matter to Uther though what Morgana said, his mind was made up, Merlin would be executed at dawn for conspiring against the throne.

"He's not even dead," Morgana spat back in a harsh whisper.

"He's dead to me!" Uther retaliated before gesturing towards the guards to take Merlin to the dungeons.

"Morgana, Gwen, help me!" Merlin bellowed as he was dragged out of the room, but they could no longer bear to look at him. They knew that there was no use arguing with Uther anymore, it would only get them put into the same position as Merlin.

Before he knew what was happening he was placed in the cell as the door slammed shut, allowing the guard to lock it after him. He then walked away leaving Merlin sitting alone on the hard stone floor.

For a while Merlin just sat there contemplating any way of escape, but of course there were none. If he tried any form of magic to escape the cell, Uther would have him hung for the use of sorcery and if he tried to escape any other way, he would be killed on site. It was a no win situation.

And then he remembered Arthur lying there, what had happened out there while Merlin was out there? Better yet, what had happened in the first place? Nothing made sense. It was just one question after another piling up onto an even bigger pile of unanswered question.

Arthur meant everything to him, and damned if he was going to sit around here doing nothing. If there was something out there that he could do to help Arthur from whatever had happened, then he had to get out.

That sorcerer had to have done something to Arthur before Merlin killed him, if only he knew what then maybe he might be able to fix things.

It was about then that the sound of footsteps got Merlin's attention as Gaius snuck up to his cell.

"What's going on?" Merlin asked Gaius silently getting up off the floor, walking over to the bars of the cell.

"I was hoping you could tell me," Gaius replied taking a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure no one was listening in on their conversation.

"Well, I'm being executed in the morning. Not exactly how I planned on going down, but I guess it's good enough I suppose. Better than being hanged," Merlin said sarcastically, but Gaius was clearly not amused.

"This is serious Merlin. Whatever Arthur did, he saved your life by taking his. I don't know how, but he did. All I do know is that you now have your soul back and he's lost his. "

"My soul?" Merlin said slightly confused.

"Yes, the sorcerer responsible for your earlier condition took your soul and almost half of the kings guards tonight. Without it you were just an empty shell, which is exactly what Arthur is now."

"Well then let's just get it back for him!" Merlin stated only to receive a disappointing sigh from the court physician.

"I already went through this with Arthur today, there's no way to get someone soul back."

"And yet, here I am," he replied. "Obviously Arthur managed to find a way to get mine back, so all we need to do is figure out what he did and do the same."

Gaius looked saddened and shook his head.

"Merlin... you can't," Gaius couldn't look at Merlin in the eyes anymore. "That sorcerer, he collected souls, and when he died the souls died with him. Without a soul, Arthur will never be the same again."

Merlin had to fight back the tears as he thought of Arthur staying like that forever. In the end what good had it done? If Arthur truly did somehow bargain his soul, then it was all for nothing. They were both pretty much as good as dead, and Merlin never had the chance to tell Arthur he loved him.

To think three simple words could break your heart. 'I love you'. If only he'd told Arthur sooner...

Another set of footsteps suddenly caught both of their attention. Gaius quickly ducked behind around one of the corners, while Merlin returned to the back of the cell sitting down on the hard floor.

Moments later the figure of Morgana appeared in front of his cell.

"Get up," she hurried. Merlin noticed a metallic object in her hand which he realised what it was the moment the door opened.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" he asked.

"I will not let Uther have you killed Merlin, you need to get out of Camelot before they notice your gone," Morgana replied trying to hurry Merlin out of the cell before closing it behind him.

"How did you get a key anyway?" Merlin said glancing over her shoulder as Gaius appeared from behind his corner.

"Arthur's room, now come on. We need to get you out of here."

Grabbing his arm she tried to pull him away but Merlin refused to move.

"I'm not leaving Arthur."

"Don't be stupid Merlin!" Morgana snapped. "If you stay here, Uther will have you killed. Do yourself a favour and get out while you still can."

"I won't leave him Morgana."

She rolled her eyes before sighing, which was Merlins sign that she'd given up.

"Arthur was right, you really _are_ an idiot," Morgana retorted.

A broad grin enveloped his entire face as he chuckled slightly.

"I can't help it."

Gaius finally revealed himself from around the corner behind Morgana. Before Merlin had a chance to say who it was, she was already whirling around pulling a short dagger from out of her night attire and throwing it behind her. Thankfully it missed Gaius by inches, but that didn't stop him from almost collapsing to his knees in shock.

"Oh my god! Sorry!" she apologised, noticing who she had thrown the dagger at. "I thought you were one of the guards."

Merlin scurried over to help Gaius off the ground, brushing the dirt that now covered the back of his clothes.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side," Merlin mused looking at the dagger that lay on the ground behind Gaius.

"You can never be too cautious," Morgana shrugged her shoulders.

"True," Gaius croaked out dryly, "but there's a point where you can become over cautious."

"Sorry," she apologized again. Gaius nodded vaguely and didn't say anything else.

"Where's Arthur being held?" Merlin asked.

"In Uther's quarters... If you're considering what I think you are, don't even try. It's too risky," Morgana warned, but to be honest, she had no hope whatsoever convincing Merlin otherwise.

"You can either help me or not, either way, though, I'm helping Arthur. This ends tonight."

Morgana stood there for a while, occasionally glancing around making sure they were still alone. Closing her eyes, she raised her hand to her head and sighed.

"What's your plan?"

*

Before doing anything, they made their way back to Merlin's room to grab the magic book. When Morgana asked what it was, they simply answered her saying it was a book of medicine. Whether she believed them or not, that was another thing entirely.

Keeping clear of the guards, they made their way through the castle almost getting caught twice. But thankfully for Morgana's natural beauty and impervious looks, they were able to remain hidden from the king's men.

Morgana poked her head discretely around the next corner. Thankfully, there was no one around guarding the king's chamber door, but that didn't mean anything. There was no doubt in Merlin's mind that Uther was at Arthur's bedside praying for his son to be alright.

"Stay here," Morgana said striding away, knocking on Uther's door. A few moments later the door opened and she disappeared within.

It seriously wasn't the best idea standing out in the middle of the corridor knowing that at any moment they could be caught. But what else could they do? There were almost no places to hide, let along rooms they could stay in until Morgana managed to lure Uther out of his quarters for a while.

Even if Merlin failed, at least he'd die knowing he tried saving Arthur. That's all that really mattered.

*

Uther answered the door allowing Morgana into his room. Arthur lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling of the room unphased by what was going on around him.

"I've tried talking to him, but it's like he's no longer there anymore," Uther said sitting at his son's bedside.

"About earlier..." Morgana said trying to show some form of compassion, "I didn't mean what I said. I don't know what came over me."

"I understand," he replied somewhat ignoring her. "You were upset, you've known Merlin for a while now and you've let yourself grown attached."

Morgana shook her head. "He's our friend, Uther, he never did anything wrong."

"And yet, Arthur is dying thanks to him. No matter how much you persist, my mind is made up and Merlin _will_ die tomorrow."

She prepared to open her mouth to reply back, but found herself clamming up when Uther shot her a warning look. Seeing that her influence was failing to get Uther to take back his order for cold blooded murder, and Merlin and Gaius could be caught any minute outside, she decided to try a different tactic.

"You look starving," she lied. "Why don't we get you something to eat, huh?"

"I'm not hungry," Uther said.

"Well how about some fresh air? Obviously Arthur's not going to get better by tonight," she also lied... sort of... Whatever Merlin and Gaius had planned she could only hoped it worked.

"I do not wish to get any fresh air!" Uther snapped forcefully.

Giving up, Morgana began to think of possible ways to get the king away from Arthur. It may have seemed an impossible task, but this was Morgana, if persuasion didn't work, than alternative methods would be used instead.

As Uther turned away to face Arthur again, Morgana grabbed the closest heaviest object she could find – that being a small metal shield situated on the wall – and quickly, or more rather walked rather inconspicuously, concealing the shield behind her back. When she was in perfect hitting distance, Morgana raised the the shield and slammed it down on the back of Uther's head. Twice. Just to make sure he was knocked out, naturally.

The unsuspecting Uther only felt a sudden whack on the head before falling face forward off the bed and onto the floor. Placing the miniature shield on the bed, Morgana quickly dashed to the door and gave Merlin and Gaius the all clear.

As soon as Merlin walked in the room his mouth hung gaped wider than it probably should have the moment he noticed Uther on the floor. Gaius also seemed to have a similar shocked expression lingering on his face.

"But... What... How...?" Merlin babbled incoherently. "If he wakes up then it won't be us that'll get killed Morgana."

"I think I realise that you idiot, now get a move on it," Morgana snapped dragging Uther's unconscious body away from the bed.

Both Gaius and Merlin just stood there, though, while exchanging worried looks.

"Well?" she said hastily. "Do whatever you came here to do."

Gaius cleared his throat before he tried speaking up. "We need you to leave the room."

"What on earth for?" she said looking down at Arthur only for a second, those eyes were too much. "You're only checking what kind of medicine he needs, right?"

Neither of them decided to answer. That wasn't a reassuring sign of their behalf, but she decided not to question it any further in case she found herself finding out more than what she wanted.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Morgana asked for some kind of reassurance.

"No need to worry, everything will be fine," Gaius said with a gentle tone, which for some reason caused Morgana to feel less worried. Not much, but a little. "I'll be just outside if you need me."

Turning around, Morgana opened the door an inch taking a quick peak making sure no one was around. Seeing that the corridor was clear, she quickly ducked outside closing the door behind her.

*

Once Morgana had left the room, Merlin began searching through the magic book for anything that might help Arthur.

"You still haven't explained to me what you're doing," Gaius said grabbing Merlin's wrist.

"Let go of me." Merlin shook Gaius's hand off his wrist and continued searching for the page he needed.

Gaius was taken aback by Merlin's reaction and didn't continue further, instead letting the young sorcerer continue searching through the book until he came across a page that caused Gaius to go wide eyed in horror.

"You can't. It's too dangerous," Gaius stated.

"If it's the only way to save Arthur, then I will. It's either this, or he dies. You've already pointed out that there's no way to get his soul back, so I don't see any other option. So if you want to stop me, try, but I'm not letting him slip away from me again."

"Merlin, splitting your soul in two is wrong. It's as dark as the magic that sorcerer used to steal souls in the first place."

Ignoring Gaius, Merlin took a deep breath as he began scanning the page he needed, but Gaius snatched the book out of his hands.

"I won't let you do this. What you're trying to do is dark magic, it could kill you! I'm not losing you, Merlin. You've always been like the son I never had, let me do it. I'm old, fragile. I don't have much time left anyway..."

"This is my fault, Gaius. I'd rather know I risked my life saving Arthur, then not trying at all. He means more to me than you can ever imagine, just please, let me do this."

Merlin slowly went to grab the book from Gaius, but wouldn't let go. Sighing, Gaius reluctantly gave the book to Merlin who turned around and found the page settling himself on the bed next to Arthur.

"This isn't exactly how I pictured being in your bed, but I guess it'll have to do," Merlin chuckled sadly, and began speaking ancient words.

"_Vantara helsena spliva katesh."_

A light suddenly began to fill Merlin's throat as he repeated the words again, leaning down he placed his lips onto Arthur's and deepened down for a kiss until the light left his own mouth and into Arthur's.

Arthur's body shedding golden light once as the light travelled down Arthur's throat and into his chest. Merlin laid his head back on the bed feeling as if he'd been torn in half, Arthur was now a part of him.

Arthur's eyes blinked rapidly as he turned to his side coughing up a few specks of blood. Once he'd stopped Merlin turned to his side exhausted as the two looked at each other for a short while.

"I love you," Merlin managed to say.

Arthur looked deep back into his eyes, whispering hoarsely.

"You sound like a girl."

"True," Merlin laughed smugly, "but a pretty one at that."

"Oh shut up," Arthur croaked desperately reaching out his hand and placing it behind Merlin's head pulling him closer for a kiss.

Merlin couldn't believe what was happening, for a while there he forgot that Gaius was in the room no doubt watching them. But who cares! Arthur was kissing him, leaving a sweet trail down his chin before placing his hand over Merlin's waist.

"Wow..." was the only thing that came to mind for Merlin.

"Not too bad," Arthur said contemplating the kiss. "But we can work on it."

Merlin smiled and pulled Arthur in gently brushing his lips against Arthur's, while grinding his hips up against his crotch. Arthur moaned in his mouth, giving Merlin the perfect opportunity for some tongue. Once Merlin pulled away Arthur gave him a stunned look.

"Getting there," Arthur grinned.

On the other side of the room Gaius coughed abruptly trying to get their attention before anything _else _developed.

"So what happens now?" Merlin asked.

Arthur shrugged, "Don't know."

Sighing, Merlin snuggled up closer to Arthur where he fell asleep waiting for morning to come, well, sort of.

_To be continued..._


	5. Little Interruptions

**A/N: **_Seriously, you guys have no idea how shocked I am to wake up in the morning to see more and more story alerts and favourites. I still don't understand how, let alone why, people are taking interest in this story. It's not that great... Anyway, you know the drill. I hope you enjoy this, and please review once you've finished reading the chapter. It only takes a few seconds and it gives me warm and fuzzies and encouragment to write the next one quicker. _

* * *

By the time morning came around, Uther had already recovered from the shield incident and almost cried – almost, but not quite – when he saw Arthur alive and well. Arthur had taken Merlin back to his chambers to get some decent sleep and quality time.

When Uther asked Gaius what had happened, thankfully he lied saying that the king was under a lot of strain and blanked out, which is why he had an aweful headache. Of course, Morgana had collaborated with everything that Gaius had said, and thankfully Uther didn't suspect a thing.

Uther didn't question how Arthur recovered. All that mattered now was that his son was okay, and that he was never going to let anything like that happened to him again.

Lying down on the bed on his side with Arthur's hand wrapped around him from behind, Merlin half expected to wake up to find everything happening to be a dream, but it wasn't, this was really happening.

Arthur's head rested on the back of Merlin's shoulder exhaustedly, snuggling into him. Who would have thought that the prince liked to snuggle? That was definitely something Merlin would use against him on at a later date.

Suddenly Arthur moved unexpectedly behind him causing Merlin to jolt back, slamming his head into Arthur's.

"Ow!" Arthur moaned sitting up on his bed removing his hands from around Merlin's waist. "What was that for?"

"I didn't mean it. I just got startled, that's all," Merlin babbled, apologising as best he could as the prince clutched his head.

"You really are a klutz, Merlin. Where would I be without you?" Arthur asked half jokingly, wincing as Merlin brushed his fingers lightly over where he'd hit Arthur's forehead.

"Oh, I don't know. Dead probably," Merlin replied truthfully with a grin, making Arthur feel pretty uncomfortable not knowing if Merlin was joking or not.

There was no response from Arthur that made Merlin feel very awkward. His eyes seemed to flicker away from his looking into his pillow instead.

"Are you going to tell me what's bothering you? Or do I have to force it out of you?" Merlin pulled himself closer so their faces were only inches apart, but their eyes didn't meet once.

"When were you going to tell me you were a sorcerer?" he asked causing Merlin's heart to lodge into his throat painful, almost making him cough and splutter right in Arthur's face.

"I... don't know what you're talking about. That's insane, me a sorcerer? Are you sure you're alright?" Merlin spluttered.

"You don't have to lie to me Merlin," he reassured.

"I'm not lying!" Merlin snapped back.

"The Great Dragon told me you idiot!" Arthur raised his voice before grabbed his neckerchief and pulled him closer for another kiss.

Merlin found himself paralysed under Arthur's lips as they collided against his own. Once it was over, only then did Arthur look in his eyes.

"I don't care if you are or aren't a sorcerer, not anymore. If I did, then do you suppose I'd be kissing you right now?"

Arthur pulled Merlin back into another kiss, which pretty much spoke for itself.

"If I told you before," Merlin spoke softly once they'd parted, "you never would have believed me. And if you did..."

By the look on Arthur's face, he looked shocked that Merlin would even suggest such a thing.

"I would never..."

"You would have," Merlin interrupted.

"Okay, maybe I would have then," he contemplated. "But this is now Merlin, I promise I'll never let anything happen to you." Merlin turned over hopping off the bed.

"You say that now, but what happens if Uther finds out?"

"He won't find out."

"Oh, that's comforting to know," Merlin said sarcastically before rolling his eyes. "What if he does though, hm? You know better than I do that he'd have me killed. Hell! I'd be dead this morning if I hadn't risked my life saving your arse."

"Well that makes two of us." Arthur pushed himself off the bed and standing in front of Merlin. "I exchanged my soul for you, but I suppose that doesn't mean anything to you."

"Well," Merlin glared, "I split my soul in half because I wouldn't know what to do with myself if you died. But I suppose that doesn't mean anything either." Arthur's mouth hung open widely.

"You did _what_?"

"I said, I split my soul in half to be with you," Merlin repeated.

"Yes, I heard that," Arthur said finally closing his abnormally wide and irresistible mouth.

Arthur began to pace around the room looking both freaked out and relieved at the same time. Words attempted to make their way of out Merlin's mouth, but every time he attempted to, hot air came out instead.

"You care about me that much to do that?" Arthur asked only to receive a nod.

"As much as I hate to admit it, yes," Merlin replied with a smug grin as Arthur returned the favour.

"Morgana was right..." Arthur said to himself while examining Merlin's body in detail losing track of time.

"Huh?" he queered, but Arthur didn't appear to be paying attention. Merlin had to snap his fingers to get the prince's attention. "Hello, anybody in there?"

"Stop clicking your fingers, just because I love you," it seemed to take a lot of effort to get those three words out before continuing, "that doesn't mean I won't make your life hell."

"So I guess everything will be the same as before? You tell me what to do, and I'll do whatever you say?"

Arthur shrugged his shoulders, "Depends if you're good to me or not. But now that you mention it, as you are my servant, you will do as I say." There was a loud groan from Merlin that caused him to his smile to widen even more.

"As long as it doesn't involve mucking out the stables again or eating rat stew, anything else is okay though." Merlin dreaded hoping for the love of the gods that it wasn't something horrible.

"You know I'd never make you do anything that you didn't want to," Arthur said raising an eyebrow.

"Liar!" Merlin replied back childishly. "You made me do both of those things and you know I didn't want to do either of them."

Arthur laughed at the young warlock before grabbing Merlin, bringing him closer as he whispered in his ear.

"True, but you were just begging for it to happen." Arthur nibbled on his ear slightly.

"I hate you," the sorcerer said before kissing Arthur across the lips.

"I hate you too," Arthur replied.

There was a sudden giggle from outside the chamber door that caused Arthur to let go of Merlin and sneak quietly towards the door. In one swift motion he pulled open the door to reveal the figures of Gwen and Morgana who tumbled to the floor in a very conspicuous manner.

"Can I help you?" Arthur asked crossing his arms only to receive a hug from Morgana while Gwen went dashing to Merlin.

"Gross, I'm going to have to burn this now," Arthur said disgusted after Morgana finally let go. "What the hell was that for anyway? Please don't tell me you've been at the wine again, remember what happened last time... Ouch!"

Morgana stomped on his foot causing him to jump up and down in pain as he clutched his injured foot.

"You promised never to mention that again," Morgana snapped glancing over at Gwen to see her still hugging Merlin tightly; so tightly that it looked as if Merlin was turning blue.

"Can't... breathe...." Merlin choked out as Gwen finally released from the hug.

"Sorry," she apologized. "Did I hurt you?"

"Nope," Merlin lied, feeling as if his ribs had been crushed. She was stronger than she looked.

"Seriously, though, what were you two doing at the door?" Arthur asked looking suspiciously at both of the girls who giggled.

"Listening, what else?" Morgana pointed out only for Arthur to go wide eyed in horror.

"How long have you been out there?" he asked hastily hoping that they hadn't been out there long enough to hear about Merlin being a sorcerer.

Gwen shrugged, "Not long enough. We were hoping to catch the show."

"Perverts," Arthur muttered under his breath.

"We are not!" Morgana said as if she couldn't believe Arthur would ever suggest such a thing.

"Oh get out Morgana, I have other things to worry about," Arthur snapped back directing them to the door. "Don't let it hit you on the way out."

Morgana huffed in annoyance, "Fine, I wouldn't want to interrupt you." It was then that Morgana stepped forward so that she was exactly next to Arthur. She whispered softly in his ear, "Oh, and just a warning. If you _ever_ hurt Merlin, in any way, I will gladly break your legs personally."

Smiling, she grabbed Gwen by the hand and tugged her out of the room. "Come on, Arthur doesn't want to be disturbed."

Gwen waved goodbye to Merlin and Arthur before closing the door behind them.

"What was all that about?" Merlin asked rubbing the back of his head.

"Don't worry about it, there just being nosey as usual," turning back to Merlin, he began leaving trails of kisses down his neck. "Now, where were we?"

"I hate you," Merlin reminded him with a large grin as Arthur's mouth descended down onto his neck, sucking and nipping at the skin. He'd pulled himself up onto his forearms, slanting his lips over Merlin's collarbone, biting it softly as he began to pull Merlin towards the bed.

"Arthur... I'm not ready..." he said pulling himself away from Arthur's grasp.

Arthur didn't need to be told anything more, he promised that nothing would happen until Merlin was ready for it. Everything seemed to be going by so quickly now, it felt like no time at all.

"I understand," Arthur placed a kiss on the corner of Merlin's lips only to receive a roll of Merlin's eyes.

"Are you ever going to stop kissing me? If you don't quit it you're going to wear me out. I still have choirs to do not to mention help Gaius with the removal of the bodies of the guards from last night."

"I'll stop kissing you when I feel like it," Arthur said placing one more kiss on Merlin's lips before giving the sorcerer some room. "You can go now," he said clearing his throat.

"Is that an order?" Merlin questioned looking slightly confused by Arthur's commanding tone.

"Of course not!" Arthur exclaimed, "I only meant..."

Laughing Merlin turned around and opened the door. "I know. I'm just playing games with you."

"Come back later. I'd like you to have dinner with my father and Morgana tonight," Arthur said looking at Merlin through his eyelashes.

"You have _got_ to be kidding?" Merlin said looking at Arthur as if he had something plastered across his face.

"No," Arthur said shyly. "I'm not."

"Oh," he said. "Okay... Is there anything in particular I should wear?"

Arthur shook his head, "You're fine the way you are. You always have."

"Now who's the one that sounds like a girl?" Merlin chuckled causing Arthur to blush.

"Shut up!" Arthur snapped. "Go on, move it." Arthur said kissing Merlin, eagerly pushing him out the door.

Once Arthur had heard Merlin's footsteps fade away, he rubbed his hands over his face. Now all he had to do was convince Uther to let Merlin join them for dinner.

*

"No."

"But father, he saved my life," Arthur retorted.

"No. Gaius did. He found a cure just in time to save you. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to save the guards, but that's not the point. He's a servant, nothing more. And I will not have him dine with me not now or ever," Uther got up from his seat attempting to move away.

"He's not just a servant, father. He's my friend," Arthur said through gritted teeth. He wasn't going to let slip that he was in love with his manservant, Uther really would kill him if he found out.

Uther flared his nostrils, "We do not become friends with servants."

"Father, please," Arthur begged as Uther pushed past Arthur for the door.

"Didn't I make it clear enough? I said no and that is final. If you persist on asking I'll keep you confined in your quarters until you see sense," Uther threatened turning around until his face was bearing into Arthur's.

"What do you have against him?" Arthur asked only to receive a focused blast of stale breath from Uther's mouth.

"He almost got you killed," Uther sneered.

"He also saved me more than once if you haven't forgotten."

"I don't care, he's a servant. I will not have him at our table, and that is final!" Uther yelled into his face causing a surge of anger to build up.

"Don't expect to see me at dinner tonight, or any other dinner for that matter."

Pushing past Uther, Arthur left the room without saying another word leaving Uther shocked at his son's reaction. What had caused this sudden outburst? There was something about Arthur that had changed; it was as if he was a completely different person. Obviously he was having a hard time recovering from the illness that had been cast upon him? Whatever the reason, surely it would pass eventually, surely...

*

After a few hours, Merlin, Gaius along with a few of the spare guards, they'd managed to dispose of the dead bodies so they no longer scattered the city streets. No one could bare to look in any of their eyes, even though they were dead, each of the dead men still had their lifeless eyes open causing everyone to shiver as if hit by a sudden cold breeze.

Once that was over, Merlin made his way back to the castle and found himself standing outside Morgana's room. It took a while for Merlin to get up the courage to enter her chambers for help. Even though Arthur had said he was fine the way he was, Merlin still wanted to look nice and make an impression for dinner tonight. So by seeing the girls to help him seemed the most logical solution.

"What brings you here on this fine morning?" Morgana asked sitting on her bed next to Gwen.

"I was wondering if you two wouldn't mind helping me get ready for tonight... Arthur's invited me to join yourself and Uther for dinner," Merlin replied shyly as the girls squealed in excitement.

"That's adorable!" Gwen remarked. "Not that I'm calling you adorable at all, although you are, sort of. I really should have just stopped after I said that's adorable..."

"Yeah," Merlin replied somewhat puzzled.

"Well?" Morgana said. "Isn't there something you'd like to say?"

"Umm... please?"

"No!" Morgana sighed before rolling her eyes. "You're supposed to say that I was right. I told you Arthur was in love with you."

"Oh," was the only word that came to Merlin's mind.

Gwen stood up and stood directly in front of Merlin examining his clothes; they were slightly tatty and were starting to get holes in them.

"Turn around," she said. Merlin did as she said and began to turn around on the spot. Both of the girls shook their head disappointingly as they clicked their tongues. "I'm afraid we have our work cut out for us if we're going to get you looking presentable for the dinner tonight."

"You'll really help?" Merlin asked.

"Of course," Gwen stated. "You have no idea how long we've been waiting for you and Arthur to get together. If only you realised earlier how miserable and unhappy you were without each other."

"You'd be miserable too if you had to clean up after Arthur every second of the day," Merlin sighed only to receive a smile from Morgana.

"Been there, done that and I don't plan on doing it again. As much as I consider him a brother, he's hopeless without anyone by his side to the work for him."

"Now," Gwen said clapping her hands together gleefully. "We don't have much time to get you ready, but we'll do our best."

"Thanks, it means a lot," Merlin said giving Gwen a quick hug.

"We'll have you fit for a prince in no time," Morgana said as she pulled out a box from under her bed full of needle and spare cloth as she set to her task, while Gwen began taking his measurements.

_To be continued..._


	6. Dinner Occurrences

**A/N: **_Thank you for all the reviews! And to answer your question Merthurtilidie, yes things will start to go wrong. The first couple of chapters were only really the bases for a bigger plot. Anyway you guys know the drill. Please, please review once you've read this chapter. Everyone out there who writes stories how nice it is to get complimented on their work, or criticized. As this is my NaNoWriMo story, I'm doing my best to get as much done this weekend. So you can expect maybe another chapter update tomorrow, as well as day after. Anyway, Enjoy, Review and let the plot bunnies run rampant!_

* * *

Night air filled the castle as Merlin set out to the dining hall with Morgana by his side. It had taken hours to get his clothes sown up nicely so that there were no longer any holes and tears in his pants and shirt. Gwen had spent the good part of the time making him a blue doublet created from a spare roll of fabric they'd found in the royal dressmakers quarters.

Even though it took her hours of solid work, she'd managed to get the doublet finished in time. For something that was a rush job, it looked amazing. Tiny gold buttons were encrusted onto the front of the doublet as they shimmered in the torch light of corridors, while the blue of the material set of Merlin's ocean blue eyes as if it was rippling like the sea.

For the first time in ages, Merlin felt as if everything was going the way it always should. Everything seemed so perfect, but deep down he sensed that if for one moment Uther suspected their relationship he'd be dead before he moved an inch.

Merlin knew that Arthur didn't expect him to make an effort in dressing for the dinner, but he felt that it was the right thing to do. Maybe he'd even make a good impression on Uther? Either way, though, he just wanted Arthur to see that he wasn't just an idiot, when he put his mind to it that is.

He hadn't seen Arthur since he'd left his chambers earlier. It was like he disappeared completely, which was quite an achievement on Arthur's behalf. It didn't matter, though, all that Merlin was worried about was what Arthur would think after seeing how much effort went into tonight's dinner. He'd even gone to the trouble of wearing a fresh blue neckerchief that was lighter colour then the doublet.

His face began to get itchy as hell and began rubbing at it, only for Morgana to pull his hand away.

"Don't do that, you'll rub the make-up and it'll look uneven," she reminded him only for Merlin to moan in agony as the make-up started to drive him insane.

"Was it really necessary to put make-up on? I'm not a girl if you didn't realise..."

"Do you want to make a good impression for Arthur or not?" Morgana said.

"Yes, I do, but..."

"Then stop complaining," she said with a distinctive tone of annoyance.

Turning the next corner Merlin found his heart stop as he came face to face with the door that lead straight into the dining room. The two guards who were standing next to the door reached for the handles and opened them revealing the enormous interior.

Uther didn't appear to be there yet, and neither did Arthur which was strange, he'd hoped that the prince would have at least been there by now. Obviously, though, he was getting ready himself, but without Merlin's assistance he was probably trying to figure out which bit of clothing goes on where.

An amusing thought crossed the young sorcerer's mind at the image of Arthur putting his pants and shirt on back to front.

"Nervous?" Morgana asked she sat down in her seat. Merlin sat down next to her.

"Only a bit," he replied as he began tapping his fingers on the table repeatedly.

Placing her hand over his, she smiled softly which seemed to calm him down a bit and his nervous state to fade away as if it was never there.

The doors of the dining hall opened up to reveal the figure of Uther who immediately glared towards Merlin in revulsion.

"Get out," Uther bellowed at Merlin pointing back towards the door.

"But Arthur said," Merlin began only to get cut off as Uther pulled out his sword and placed it at Merlin's throat.

"You have no place here, go before I slit your throat," Uther threatened tentatively moving the sword across his skin, drawing some blood.

Morgana got up off her seat, "Put that sword away now. Arthur invited Merlin to dinner, and I see no reason why he cannot join."

Lowering his sword partially, Uther turned to Morgana who was now standing behind Merlin who was still sitting in the chair in horror. This was _not_ what he had expected when he was invited to dinner.

"He is a servant; we do not dine with servants. They have no place here."

"So what you're saying is that servants are below you, and shouldn't be allowed to be in the presence of the king?" Morgana snapped eyeing the king.

"Arthur had no right to invite you, I don't even know what he sees in you," Uther snarled in Merlin's face causing him to sink down into his chair even more than he already was.

Morgana helped Merlin out of his chair and pulled him towards her.

"He happens to care about Merlin quite a lot, more than even you could ever imagine. Unlike you, he doesn't care if he is a servant or not, he's just Merlin," Morgana glanced at Merlin and tugged at his sleeve. "Come on, if he won't allow you to come to dinner, then I won't have dinner either. I'm sure Arthur will understand," she turned to Uther contemplating knocking him out again, "_completely_."

"Good," Uther replied harshly as he sat down in his own seat and began eating by himself as Morgana pulled Merlin out of the room.

The guards closed the doors behind him and Merlin tried to pull away from Morgana, but she didn't let go.

"Merlin, don't let Uther get to you," she said trying to comfort him.

"I'm not. I just don't understand what happened... Arthur invited me to dinner, and he wasn't even there himself. I just don't get it," Merlin said confused as he rubbed his neck only to wince in pain as his fingers hit the spot where Uther had drawn blood.

"Let's get you cleaned up," Morgana said leading him away from the dining room doors." I'm sorry about what's happened, the way people treat you, it must make you mad sometimes."

Merlin shrugged, it was true. Sometimes the way people treated him like an idiot made him so mad that he just wanted to cast a spell on them to prove he wasn't just a hopeless servant.

"You get use to it after a while," he replied.

"I don't know how you can, but I what I do know is that you are one of the bravest people I know, and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise," Morgana smiled sweetly leading Merlin towards Arthur's chambers seeing that they were the closest.

Using his neckerchief, he was able to stop the bleeding to some extent, but that didn't seem to do much good. The sword must have nicked an artery, and if the bleeding didn't stop soon then he would be in trouble. But the likelihood of that happening tonight didn't seem possible seeing that the wound was only a shallow cut allowing a narrow trickle of blood to be absorbed by the material.

They didn't bother to knock as they entered Arthur's chambers. Instead they just waltzed in to see Arthur sitting on the side of his bed with a bandage wrapped around his neck.

As soon as Merlin saw the patch of blood he immediately went rushing over to Arthur's side and began examining the wound.

"I'm okay," Arthur said as Merlin touched the bandaged.

"Well obviously you did something to yourself," Morgana commented picking up a bucket of water that lay in the corner of the room.

Arthur rolled his eyes, "I didn't do anything. One moment it was fine, the next thing I knew my neck was stinging like hell and I was bleeding."

"You probably just scratched it," Merlin said finally satisfied with the bandage on Arthur's neck and began applying more pressure to his neck with the blood soaked material.

"What happened to you?" Arthur asked as soon as he noticed the blood dribbling down Merlin's neck.

"Uther, that's what," Morgana replied with a distinct hatred in her voice, taking the neckerchief out of Merlin's hand only to vigorously dunk it in the water.

"What?" Arthur growled as he stood up clenching his fists. "What did you do this time?"

Merlin stood up after him, glaring at Arthur.

"_I_ didn't do anything. All I did was go have dinner with you, Morgana and your father. But _noooo_, apparently I wasn't wanted there, no surprise," he didn't care that he was raising his voice now. "Oh, and thanks for coming to dinner. It's not like I spent most of the afternoon getting ready for it, and seeing that you haven't even commented about how I look, I'll take it you don't care."

Arthur was taken aback by Merlin's reaction, he hadn't even notice that Merlin was clean, his hair neatly brushed not to mention his stunning outfit. No wonder he was angry. It never occurred to Arthur to find the young sorcerer to tell him not to come to dinner, he figured that Merlin would come to his chambers before he bothered going.

"_Stupid_," he thought sourly before speaking out loud. "Merlin, I do care... I'm sorry. I completely forgot to tell you that I wasn't going. After my father said that he wasn't going to allow you to come have dinner with us, I told him that I never wanted to have dinner with him again."

Morgana stared in awe as she saw how much he really wanted Merlin in his life, it was touching really. Handing back the wet neckerchief to Merlin, he placed it over the shallow cut to clean it up slightly, but it didn't appear to be doing much good.

Sighing, Merlin let his head drop and whispered, "I know you do."

"We should get you to Gaius, I don't think bleedings going to stop anytime soon," Morgana commented.

"I'll take him," Arthur volunteered, it was the least he could do.

Smiling, Morgana nodded and left his chambers leaving the two alone in the room.

*

"Come on, let's get you to Gaius's," Arthur said grabbing a scarlet tunic from the drawers so he wouldn't become victim to the cold.

Arthur didn't know what to say to Merlin on the way to Gaius's, let alone touch Merlin in-case any nearby citizens caught sight of him. As much as he loved Merlin, he didn't want anyone catching wind of what was really going on between the two. It would be a disaster if they did because no doubt they would report what they saw to the king, and that would be the end of everything.

"Merlin," Arthur said getting the sorcerer's attention.

"Yes?" he replied.

"You look beautiful," Arthur managed to say feeling really bad that Merlin went to all that effort to look good for him.

Merlin smiled and placed one of his arms around the prince's waist playfully.

"Thanks," Merlin said to Arthur, placing kissing him on his cheek. Once he pulled away, Arthur quickly checked to make sure no one had seen it. Thankfully it was dark and everyone seemed to be going home by now.

The moment they walked in the door it didn't take Gaius long to notice the blood on Merlin's neck, and the bandage around Arthur's.

"What did you two do this time?" Gaius raised one eyebrow and began looking over the wounds.

"Uther," Merlin grumbled.

"Nothing," Arthur said at exactly the same time as Merlin.

"Why on earth would Uther hurt you?" Gaius asked. "And why are you dressed like that?"

"Long story," Merlin said resisting the urge to rub at the wound. "Can you stop the bleeding?"

Gaius nodded and began sifting through the herbs he kept in jars on the shelfs, eventually he pulled out a few small jars. Placing a few seeds and herbs into a pestle he began grinding them together.

Adding a few drops of water, the dry ingredients began to turn into a thick green paste. Scooping the mixture out of the pestle, Gaius smothered the paste over the cut on Merlin's neck an immediately he yelped as the mixture stung painfully against the wound.

"Ouch! You could have warned me first," Merlin cringed trying to mentally block out the burning sensation on his neck.

"You're turn," Gaius said as Arthur reluctantly removed his bandaged. As soon as the paste came in contact with Arthur's neck, he winced holding in the yelp that tried to worm its way out of his mouth.

For a moment Gaius seemed to be looking back at forth at the wounds on their necks, scratching his head in the process.

"What's the matter?" Merlin asked.

"Nothing... I think," Gaius replied somewhat vague. "Your wounds seem to be almost identical, that's all."

"Right..." Arthur said exchanging glances with Merlin.

The two didn't even notice Gaius pick up a small knife off the table as he quickly nicked the blade against Merlin's thumb drawing a pinpoint of blood. Almost the exact same time Merlin began to bleed, a droplet of blood appeared on Arthur's thumb also.

"Ouch!" Merlin cringed at the tiny wound. "What was that for?"

Gaius looked at both of the boy's hands, taking a step back in the process.

"I wanted to prove a theory," he replied grabbing some of the paste again and smothering both of the wounds with it.

"And what did this theory prove exactly?" Arthur snapped not caring about his own wounds, but rather Merlin's.

"That you two are somehow connected. I'm not sure how, but it appears that if Merlin is wounded you are too," Gaius explained.

Arthur rolled his eyes, "Don't be ridiculous."

"See for yourself," Gaius said, this time using the knife nicking the surface of Arthur's skin. The moment the red substance crept out of the wound, Merlin also was leaking blood from the same spot on his own skin.

"But..." Arthur tried to continue, but no words came to mind.

"Something must have happened when Merlin gave you part of his soul. It seems somehow you two and now linked, if one is hurt, the other will be also. I've never seen such a thing before."

Merlin was horrified at the thought that any accident he suffered, Arthur would feel exactly the same thing and vice versa. What happened if one of them died? Would the other die as well? No, he mustn't think like that.

"Well," Merlin began, "maybe it's just a phase." Even Merlin had to say that was a pretty lame response, but it was better than thinking this condition would last forever.

"Or," Gaius said raising his voice, "perhaps it's because you two share the same soul. It's the only conclusion I can think of that would result to this."

"Well, then we will just have to be extra careful, _won't_ we," Arthur said to Merlin with a smirk.

"Yes, careful, right..." Merlin replied quickly.

Gaius shook his head, "You don't understand, if that is what has happened, then you both need to watch out for each other."

"I already do," Arthur replied ruffling the warlock's hair.

Gaius gave them both an extremely raised eyebrow, "Even more so then you already do. If anyone found out about you two, then they could use it against you. Just promise me you're being discreet about everything?"

"We promise," Merlin and Arthur said in unison as if they were giving an answer to a really boring question.

"Good," Gaius said. "Are you staying here tonight, Merlin?"

Merlin nodded, it was probably for the best. After the incident with Uther, he really didn't want to be anywhere close to him, so being in his own quarters seemed the safest option.

"Yeah."

"Arthur?" Gaius asked with his eyebrow still raised.

He took one glance at Merlin discreetly, well not so much that it was unnoticeable, but enough to tell Gaius the answer he was looking for.

"Only if it's okay with you," Arthur answered.

"As long as you two keep it down, then it's perfectly fine with me sire," Gaius replied with a slight bow.

Merlin's face went all red. Nothing was going to happen, not yet anyway... he wasn't ready for anything like that. All that Merlin really wanted was to feel loved.

Leading the way to his bedroom, Merlin closed the door behind them once Arthur had entered. Unfortunately cleaning wasn't on the list of chores at the moment, so his room was a complete mess. Clothes were strung across the floor and over the bed and books lay scattered everywhere. It was a shambles.

It didn't seem to bother Arthur though as he cleared the floor beside the bed with his foot. Walking over to the cupboard he pulled out a sheet and lay on the floor, pulling the thin material over his body.

"What are you doing?" Merlin said slipping off his top and placing it on the side of his bed.

"What does it look like? I'm sleeping," Arthur replied.

"No you're not," Merlin pointed out. "If you were, then you wouldn't have spoken back."

There was a distinct groan from Arthur, which caused Merlin to chuckle.

"Shut up," Arthur said as he attempted to get comfortable on the solid floor beneath him. Merlin stood above him and yanked the material off him.

"Get up, you're not sleeping on the floor. You can share my bed."

Arthur took one glance at the one person bed.

"It's tiny. There's not enough room for both of us."

"Then we'll make room," Merlin said hoping into the bed, giving enough room for Arthur to lie down as well.

Sighing, Arthur gave in removing his shirt as he hopped in the bed beside Merlin.

"Night," Arthur said placing a kiss on Merlin's lips.

Merlin turned to over and blew out the candle leaving the room in an inky darkness.

*

_Flames danced in the moonlight, and there was a woman. Her face was covered with a black veil, but there was something about her that didn't seem right. She was alone in the forest, the treetops and forest foliage concealing her from the predators of the night. Morgana could sense she was in pain as if she was mourning. The only part of her body that was viewable was her hands; young but worn out. There was a sudden rustling in the bushes revealing another figure, a male dressed in black clothing also._

"_Are you alright my lady?" the cloaked man asked._

"_He shall pay," the voice said under the veil. It was raspy and cold, as if all the emotion had been stripped away._

"_Yes, he shall."_

"_Merlin shall pay for killing my son."_

Morgana woke up panting and drenched with sweat. Gwen came rushing over and sat beside her on the bed.

"It's okay, I'm here now."

She didn't reply, instead she let Gwen comfort her not allowing herself to fall asleep that night again.

_To be continued..._


	7. Last Request

**A/N: **_As I promised, the next chapter. I hope everyone is enjoying this, though the ammount of reviews compared to the number of story alerts is a bit of a let down but oh well. Anyway, please review and enjoy._

* * *

Something just wasn't right when Merlin felt a blinding sensation hit his eyes. There was something hard beneath him which was definitely solid, though, he was certain of it. Opening his eyes a crack, he found himself lying face down on the floor. Arthur was spread out on his bed, hands and legs hanging over the edge in a tangled manner.

Merlin lifted himself off the floor, how he managed to be there in the first place was well beyond him. But if he had to guess Arthur probably ended up pushing him off in the middle of the night in his sleep. He had a tendency to be a bed hog, not that he minded at all though.

"Wake up sleepy head," Merlin said running his fingers through the prince's soft blonde hair. When Arthur only groaned at his attempts to wake him up from his beauty sleep, Merlin took drastic measures and jumped on top of him, flipping the prince so that he was facing up at him.

Arthur shielded his eyes and made grumbling noises which Merlin believed to be words, but how you could tell was beyond even him.

"Come on, get up," he said whilst starting to tickle the prince's bare skin.

"Stop that," Arthur muttered dazedly trying to push Merlin off him.

A sheepish grin broadened on Merlin's face, "Not until you get up."

"Make me," Arthur replied using the pillow to cover his face.

"Fine," Merlin said smugly. Grabbing the pillow out of Arthur's grasp, he threw it across the room and pressed his lips against the sleepy prince's eagerly, only then did Arthur fully wake up.

"Now _that's_ what a wakeup call should really be like!" Arthur exclaimed wriggling out from underneath Merlin so he could sit up on the bed.

Merlin shrugged, "Just because you're the prince, it doesn't mean that I'll wake you up like that every morning."

"Spoil sport," Arthur pouted trying to act cute, but it was no good. Merlin wasn't going to fall for those adorable eyes of his.

Hopping of the bed, Merlin grabbed Arthur's shirt off the ground and handed it to him.

"You better get going otherwise your father will be searching every corner of the kingdom looking for you."

"I don't care," Arthur didn't even look at Merlin; he just grabbed his clothes out of his hands and slipped them on over himself.

Merlin didn't question why Arthur didn't care, it was quite clear that he didn't want to talk to his father, an idiot could see that.

"Arthur I was wondering..." Merlin began but found himself lost for words.

"Mm?" Arthur mumbled followed by a deafening yawn as he stretched his muscles.

"Don't worry about it," Merlin said turning around to leave his room, but Arthur stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Tell me," Arthur smiled that damn irresistible smile that could bend Merlin to his will no matter what. But not this time, he wasn't about to give in, not one bit, surely not...

"I was just going to ask what would happen if we ever got separated? Would you try to find me? Or just move on and find someone else?"

Merlin didn't even know himself why he wanted to know the answer to that question, but for some reason he felt that he needed to ask.

"You know as well as I do that without you I wouldn't know what to do with myself. No one could ever replace you Merlin, not ever."

"Same," Merlin said and placed his arms around Arthur's chest giving him a quick hug. After a few seconds he let go and left the bedroom to get some breakfast.

"Morning," Gaius greeted as Merlin sat down at the table placing a bowl of porridge in front of him.f

Arthur followed shortly behind and only had to take one look at what Gaius was serving up before he felt like being sick. No wonder Merlin was so skinny, by the looks of things he hardly got anything to eat, and if he did, it wasn't much and certainly wouldn't keep him sustained for that long.

Perhaps it was the way he overworked Merlin that had caused the weight problem? If it was, then he really wasn't going to let it continue.

"Care to join us?" Gaius asked as he prepared his own bowl of food.

"No thanks," Arthur said trying not to think about what they were eating. "I think I'll just grab something from the kitchens."

"Okay," Merlin said with mouth full of porridge, a little bit dribbling down his chin. "Will I see you later?" he asked once he'd swallowed the food down.

"You are my manservant after all, but you could do with some rest. After what happened last night, it's probably best you stay away from my father for a while."

Arthur smiled and left the room, leaving the thoughts of disgusting porridge behind him.

*

The moment Arthur opened the oak door to the kitchens he found himself attacked by a wave of heat and smoke. He couldn't see much past the heavy blanket of smoke, but he was able to make out of outlines of the servants working away as if they didn't even know the smoke was there.

On the table in the middle was a two separate piles; one pile was an assortment of fruits, which the other was a pile of bread. Taking a nice red apple and a small loaf of bread, Arthur left the kitchen quickly before he choked to death.

Eating the apple on the way back to his own chambers he passed Gwen who bowed at the sight of him.

"Sire," she said.

"Gwen," Arthur replied back. "I don't suppose you've seen my father around have you?"

The moment he mentioned Uther, her face changed dramatically from soft and gentle to the completely opposite.

"I'm-uh, not sure. I may have, but it might have just been my imagination. Maybe Morgana knows, excuse me sire," she quickly dashed away down the corridor and disappeared behind a corner.

"Okay..." Arthur said very confused before taking another bite out of his apple.

Once he arrived in his own chambers, he found himself looking out his bedroom window while finishing off the rest of his breakfast. After what Uther did to Merlin last night, he didn't know if he could forgive his father or not. Merlin deserved better than to be treated as he was. If it was anybody else, perhaps Arthur wouldn't have cared as much, but this was the person he loved, not just anyone.

At this very moment all he wanted to do was to march up to his father and yell at him forever until he went blue, but that would be the biggest mistake he ever made if he did. Though he had other things on his mind at the moment, like what Gaius had said last night about Merlin and him being connected.

How was it possible? Did something go wrong when Merlin gave him part of his soul? It was just another question that most likely wouldn't be answered for a long time. He just had to make sure he didn't hurt himself too badly, because if he did Merlin would be hurt as well. The thought of anything bad happening to him was frightening to even think about, because in the end Arthur would realise that it was entirely his fault.

With being the prince, though, he had a duty to the people and the kingdom. Knowing that every single moment of the day, he could be putting Merlin's life in danger made Arthur want to lock himself in his room. If anything were to ever happen to him, Arthur would rather die than have to live with the guilt.

A creaking sound from behind him caused Arthur to turn around to reveal the figure of his father, arms crossed unimpressed.

"Where were you last night?" Uther demanded to know. Arthur didn't care though; he really wasn't in the mood with talking to his father in case he ended up smacking him across the face.

"Leave me be," Arthur said closing the window to his chambers.

"You were with Merlin, weren't you?" Uther asked suspiciously walking towards Arthur.

Arthur glared at his father with anger he never knew he had. "What if I was? What would you do, have me killed?"

"Not you, no," Uther hinted causing Arthur to go wide eyed.

"If you lay one hand on him, you will never see me again," Arthur felt his fists clenching tighter by the moment.

"So you were with him," Uther stated looking more pleased with himself than he really should. "You are no longer to have any contact with your current manservant. From this moment onwards you will begin your search for a new servant."

"No," Arthur stated through gritted teeth.

"I am your father and the king of this land, you shall do as I command," Uther snapped harshly causing Arthur to take a step back.

"No. I will not let you take away the most important person in my life."

"Is that so?" Uther taunted curling his lips upwards.

"Yes," Arthur spat back. He didn't care that this was his father in front of him at the moment. He was not taking Merlin away from him no matter what he did.

"In that case, he is to be executed tomorrow morning. He obviously has corrupted you, I hope that the same thing doesn't happen with your next servant," Uther spun around leaving Arthur standing there.

"You can't do this," Arthur managed to utter out in a whisper.

Uther didn't reply. Instead he walked out of Arthur's chambers, leaving him alone in the room as he began to kick himself internally. This was entirely his fault, he had to get to Merlin first, he was no longer safe in Camelot.

*

Even though Arthur had given him the day off, he still found himself doing odd jobs for Gaius, all of them not very pleasant either. So far he had been made to clean the leech tank, which was a job in itself. He also had to mop the floors, as well as reorganizing the shelves.

"I'm exhausted," Merlin complained sitting down on a chair, allowing his head to flop backwards.

"It's about time you did some work around here Merlin. Anyway, I have one last job for you then you can have the day all to yourself," Gaius said passing an empty bucket.

Groaning, Merlin grabbed the bucket out of Gaius's hands and left the room.

Gaius began preparing another sleeping draft for Morgana once he'd left the room; the poor girl was having nightmares again. Adding the last ingredient to the draft, Gaius placed a cork onto the vile placing it on the wooden bench.

The door unexpectedly slammed open revealing the exhausted figure of Arthur.

"Where's Merlin?" he managed to gasp out, trying to catch his breath.

"He's gone to collect some water. Why? What's wrong?" Gaius asked, but Arthur had already run back out the door leaving Gaius utterly confused.

Moments later Gaius was in shock when a group of guards came storming into his quarters.

"Where is Merlin?" one of the guards demanded to know as the other began tearing the room apart looking for the young sorcerer.

"I'm not sure," Gaius lied. Whatever they wanted Merlin for, it obviously wasn't to clean the castle tapestries. "He left a little while ago, he has yet to return."

"Search in there," the guard pointed towards Merlin's room. Gaius hoped for the love of the gods that Merlin had hidden the magic book.

"May I ask what he has done?" Gaius inquired.

"You may not," the guard replied somewhere within the metal armour.

*

Arthur searched frantically throughout the streets for any sign of Merlin; so far there was no sign of the young sorcerer. Had his father already gotten to him? No, Uther wouldn't have had time to get to him yet. But by the large amounts of guards searching the city, it was quite clear that they'd already begun the search.

But there he was, at the city water pump getting water as if he wasn't even aware of what was going on around him.

Grabbing his shirt, Arthur pulled him away from the tap and behind the closest building.

"What was that for?" Merlin said shocked.

"You need to get out of Camelot," Arthur said using his body to hide Merlin as a few guards went past.

"Why?" Merlin said crossing his arms looking straight at Arthur.

"Because my father has put an order out to have you captured and killed. Perhaps that's why I'm trying to save your arse," Arthur replied back.

"But why? What did I do?" his mouth dropped as he glanced behind Arthur to see some of the guards talking to the citizens.

Arthur rubbed his hands through his hair, "Nothing. This is all my fault, I never should have gotten involved with you. It's just made things worse for both of us."

"But... I thought you loved me," Merlin said as a tears formed in his eyes.

"Merlin, I do. I'll always love you, but right now if you don't get out of the city my father is going to have you killed, and there's nothing I can do to stop him." Arthur framed Merlin's face with his hands, using his thumbs to brush away the tears from his face. "I promise that no harm will ever come to you. Hide in the forests, go stay with your mother in Ealdor, anything to get away from Camelot."

Merlin leant forward and pressed himself up against Arthur's body, clashing their lips together in a fumble as his hands began to wander nervously as if they didn't know what to do. He kissed Arthur, desperately, as if he never wanted to leave him alone. Before Arthur knew what to do, he parted his lips and allowed Merlin entrance to his mouth. Tongues flew everywhere in the heat of battle as Arthur pushed Merlin into the wall of the house, grinding his body into the young servant.

Reaching down, Arthur grabbed Merlin's crutch and squeezed tentatively causing him to moan in the prince's mouth as he bucked up into Arthur almost knocking the wind out of him. It gave Merlin enough time to reach out behind his head and take control of the situation, letting his tongue devour Arthur's mouth, and he let him.

He didn't want this to stop, but he had too. Pulling away slowly, Arthur let his head fall onto Merlin's shoulder and whisperer in his ear.

"Go, before anyone finds you."

Merlin pulled away from the wall and disappeared into the crowd, Arthur could have sworn he'd heard the sorcerer cry but didn't dare follow. Instead he got moved out from behind the house and walked over to the guards pointing the opposite direction that Merlin went.

"He went that way," Arthur said.

The guards nodded and walked briskly into the direction he'd pointed. Not once looking back as Merlin left the gates of Camelot.

_To be continued..._


	8. Beneath the Veil

**A/N: **_Thank you guys for all the lovely reviews. They make me happy, and seeing that I'm stressing about exams next week, they've been helping me to calm down a bit. Anyway, here's the next chapter, I wrote it quicker than I thought I would. Oh, and yes... the next few chapters got a bit angsty, don't know how, the muse had evil ideas. Please review, and I promise to update soon if the stress of exams doesn't kill me first. _

* * *

Little sunlight was able to make its way through the dense foliage above. Merlin wasn't exactly sure how far he'd run, but right now he felt as if he couldn't walk another step without collapsing onto the forest floor. Instead he found a large beech tree to fall against, letting his back slide down it until he hit the ground.

He did exactly what Arthur had said; to leave Camelot. Already he missed Arthur, Gaius, Gwen and even Morgana. He hadn't got the chance to say goodbye to any of them, instead he just left the city without saying a word.

There was a tugging sensation in his chest that made him feel even worse, it seemed the further away from Camelot he was the more Merlin felt like curling up into a ball. Arthur meant the world to him, and now he had to run away from that world to avoid death. It wasn't fair, what had he done to deserve all this? None of it was Merlin's doing in the first place. Arthur hadn't even bothered to explain why he was going to be sentenced to death.

Merlin rubbed his hands over his face. It was dark in this part of the woods, not to mention cold and he still had no idea where he was going. If he choose to go back to Ealdor, then no doubt Uther would look there first once the guards realise that he's no longer in Camelot. Maybe it would be better if he just slept here in the night. Though, looking around there was no shelter, a few bushes and rocks here and there, but nothing that would provide protection from the elements.

Other thoughts crossed his mind, how long would he be able to survive out here? Winter was coming which meant freezing cold nights, and he had no way of shield himself from wild animals during the night. Food was probably not so bad, there were bound to be rabbits and birds around that he could kill, and light a fire with magic.

At the moment, though, Merlin tried to take all these things off his mind, instead listening to the rustling of the tree's above. They were peaceful, lightly swaying in the breeze as leaves floated to the ground.

The sunlight that was able to make its way through the leaves was slowly replaced with darkness as stars glistened through the greenery. It was beautiful, but frightening all at once. If only Arthur was here to share it with.

Sighing, Merlin found a bush close by large enough to hide himself under. He didn't dare light a fire though in case the guards were already searching the forest for him, attracting attention was the last thing he needed right now.

Merlin placed his arms around himself in attempt to warm up his body. Never had he realised how cold it could get at night, even if it was winter.

Something dropped onto the back of his hand, wet and freezing cold. Merlin glanced down to see a drop of water, when he brushed it away another drop of water replaced it. Before long hundreds upon hundreds of droplets of water plummeted down from between he leaves above. Great, just what he needed, rain. Well at least he could look on the bright side now; he would no longer die of dehydration.

Shuffling backwards into the bush further, Merlin closed his eyes hoping that the rain would give out later in the night.

*

Morgana stared out her window as she watched the guards search the city for Merlin. It was entirely her fault, she knew it. Early that morning, Uther had entered her room looking for Arthur after realising that his son didn't sleep in his chambers that night.

Even though she told Uther that she had no idea where Arthur had stayed, he slapped her across the face saying that she was lying. Of course she was! After the way Uther had treated Merlin, she had no wish to tell him anything.

Gwen had accidentally walked in on the fight, but was quick to retreat as soon as Uther caught sight of her.

Unfortunately, though, she had let slip that Arthur had taken Merlin back to Gaius's. As soon as she did, Uther had stormed out of the room waiting for the prince's return. Because of that, now the king wanted Merlin dead.

Wherever Merlin was, though, the king hadn't been able to find him. No one had a hope changing the king's mind; he was going to kill Merlin no matter what. Morgana had a terrible feeling that one of the reasons he wanted to kill the servant so much, was because he had discovered how much Arthur really did care about him.

But either way, if he did there was no stopping the king. Everyone knew that Uther always expected his son to marry a woman and produce an heir. If he didn't then the Pendragon's would no longer exist. The way Arthur looked at Merlin was love that she never even knew Arthur had. He rarely showed any form of compassion before Merlin came into his life; it was like a miracle cure that only Merlin possessed.

A knock of Morgana's chamber door got her attention. Turning around, she cautiously walked over to the door and opened it. She sighed in relief when she saw the figure of Arthur who pushed past her into the room.

"I hate him!" Arthur bellowed, almost causing Morgana's eardrums to burst.

"Who?" It was a stupid question as she already knew the answer.

"Who you do think?" Arthur snapped back pacing around the room.

"I know how hard this must be for you..." Morgana started but was immediately cut off by the prince's voice.

"Oh? So now you can tell how I feel? You know nothing Morgana!" Arthur said but stopped when he noticed a fresh bruise on her cheek. "Who did that?"

"Who do you think?" Morgana mocked as Arthur traced one of his fingers around the bruise.

Arthur looked positively murderous.

"Do you know if Merlin's okay?" Morgana asked staring back out the window, rain started to pelt against the glass heavily.

"I don't know. I managed to get him out of the city before the guards could get to him. But I have no idea how to get to him or where he is," Arthur said sitting at the end of her bed, placing his hands over his face as if he'd given up all hope.

"He can look after himself," Morgana comforted sitting next to Arthur.

"But for how long?" Arthur asked weakly. "You know as well as I do that my father won't give up, no matter what."

"I know, but your forgetting who we're talking about. Merlin has been in worse situations before," she found herself placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. As much as she thought of Arthur as a brother, she didn't really know what to say or do in this situation.

"Not like this," Arthur said slamming his fist down into the bed.

Arthur pushed himself off the bed and strode over to the window, watching the water slide down the surface of the window as if it was crying.

"Everything will work out in the end," Morgana assured him standing beside him.

He didn't reply, instead he gazed out into the distance no doubt thinking about Merlin alone in the elements. Even Morgana had to admit the thought of Merlin by himself somewhere outside the city was a terrible thought. If Uther didn't get to him first, he would freeze to death.

"Do you mind if I stay here tonight?" Arthur asked out of nowhere.

"As long as you keep your hands to yourself and you don't hog the bed, then yes," Morgana replied with a light laugh.

"Believe me, I have no desire to touch that," Arthur said examining Morgana's body blandly.

"The feelings mutual,' Morgana replied dryly.

The last of speck of sunlight disappeared behind the city, only to be replaced by the embers small flickering candle.

Arthur lay as far away from Morgana as possible, almost falling out of the bed in the process. Staying awake until Arthur went to sleep, Morgana allowed her eyelids to close and began dreaming of the woman in black.

*

It was well into the night at the rain was still pelting down harshly freezing Merlin right down to the core. His clothes were soaked and the bush was offering little protection from the rain, it was no use lighting a fire because the water would put it out straight away. Not to mention his nose was running like a fountain and his stomach was empty begging for food.

Alone and hungry, it couldn't possibly get any better. Wouldn't it be just wonderful if a magical beast came along just about now and attacked him? But no, all the animals and beasts had found their own shelter somewhere in the forest, so that wasn't going to happen tonight. Maybe it would have been better after all getting killed by Uther's hands.

Somewhere in the forest in front of him the rustling of leaves caught his attention, his instinct causing him to hide further back underneath the bush in case it was one of Uther's guards.

Out of the shadows two figures appeared, one was male for certain. His build similar to Arthur's, but instead his hair was a light drown which was soaking wet. The other one though, if Merlin was to guess it was a woman, although it was hard to tell as she was wearing a black veil that concealed her entire face.

She limped across the forest floor as if she was old and fragile, but her hands appeared to be that of a young woman. Before Merlin knew what was happening, the woman tripped over a large branch that lay awkwardly on the forest floor.

The man quickly hurried to the woman's side and began helping her up off the ground, her black attire now covered in dirt and leaves.

"My lady, are you alright?" the male asked brushing the leaves off her.

"Quiet!" she snarled and began looking around. "Someone's here."

Immediately Merlin found himself pushing himself even further back into the bush. Who in their right mind would be out in the forest at night? Whatever the reason, it couldn't possibly be good. Not to mention she somehow knew he was hiding.

"Over here," she rasped and began limping towards his direction. Merlin found his entire body paralysed as his breathing halted and his heart lodged in his throat.

The woman was directly in front of the bush, her feet only inches away from his face. There was a sudden noise that caused Merlin to flinch as a rabbit dashed past him and outside of the bush only to get swept up by the woman's hands.

"I believe we have dinner," she stated dryly breaking the animals neck, the crack loud and distinct. It didn't seem to bother her as Merlin spotted blood seeping down her hands as it was washed away by the rain.

The two didn't move on, instead they sat only meters away on a couple of small rocks. Merlin watched in horror as the man snatched the animal's corpse from her hand and smashed it against the side of one of the rocks until it was stained red.

Mutilated and deformed, he ripped the rabbit in half with his bare hands and passed one half to the woman, keeping the other half in his hands.

Merlin felt his stomach curdle when the man plunged his face into the bloody corpse, devouring as much flesh as possible. He couldn't see the woman's face properly as she only raised her veil slightly to place the disfigured rabbit under and began eating.

He could no longer look at the two as they ate the innocent animal. Closing his eyes, Merlin tried to his very best to keep quiet as somewhere overhead thunder began to brew, roaring throughout the forest. It couldn't possibly get any worse.

*

For a moment Arthur completely forgot where he was the moment he woke up in Morgana's bed. It was morning by now, but it was still raining outside.

Arthur quietly hopped off her bed and gathered his things together as Morgana tossed and turned on her bed. He considered waking her up, but then found himself changing his mind. One thing was for certain, he really didn't want to see Morgana in the early hours of the morning, and certainly not the one to wake her in case she decided to cut off his favourite appendage.

Just before he had time to open the door, Gwen came through almost dropping the tray of food she was carrying as she spotted Arthur.

"What are you doing here?" she said with a hint of jealousy. "Sire," Gwen added quickly.

"It's not what it looks like!" Arthur panicked trying to find a reasonable answer to her question. There was no amount of money in the kingdom that would cause him to sleep with Morgana, that was just... wrong.

"Really?" Gwen glared storming over to Morgana's bed, placing the tray of food on a side table. "Wake up," she said silently.

Arthur was shocked to see the state of Morgana as she woke up, panting and sweating like mad. Never had he seen her in a state like this before, though, Arthur really didn't care for Morgana's nightmares as such, they _were_ just nightmares after all; nothing to worry about.

"What was Arthur doing in your room?" Gwen asked suspiciously as she discretely glanced at Arthur.

"Oh," Morgana stated rubbing her head thoroughly. "He slept in here the night."

"Wha..." Gwen began but Morgana cut her off.

"Nothing happened, believe me," Morgana smiled placing a light kiss on Gwen's lips. Arthur turned away in disgust trying to forget what he just saw.

"Why don't you two just get a room," Arthur groaned covering his eyes and turning away from the two.

"We have," Gwen giggled. "Your fathers looking for you," Gwen said passing the tray of food to Morgana who began eating the contents.

"I don't care," Arthur replied almost too quickly than he would have liked.

"You can't avoid him forever Arthur," Morgana said after swallowing a bite of her breakfast.

"Watch me." He could feel his fist clenching as he thought about punching his father right across the face. Merlin didn't deserve any of this, he never did.

Some part of Arthur felt lost, as if he was missing apart of himself. Ever since Merlin left the city yesterday, as the day grew longer the more it hurt to be so far away from him, and even more so when he had no idea where the sorcerer was.

He could be anywhere by now. No doubt Uther had already given up searching the city ground and had begun looking for Merlin in the outer towns.

All that Arthur wanted to do now was to run away from this place and find Merlin, but what good would that do? The moment he stepped foot out of the city, his father would have him captured and taken back to the castle, not to mention most likely being confined to his quarters.

Merlin was out there right now in the cold and wet, he could feel it. Arthur could feel the coldness around him and the loneliness, it was all there with him in this room, yet at the same time it felt so far away.

It was as if he was being torn between two places, not knowing where to go or come from. But what good was that going to do him? Merlin couldn't return to Camelot, and if he did his death sentence would soon follow if not straight away.

"Ouch!" Arthur gasped in pain as an invisible force struck him on the back of the head, knocking him to the ground in a pile.

Morgana and Gwen were quick to get to the princes side as he tried to get up off the floor, but didn't make it as another unseen force slammed into his head knocking Arthur out cold.

"What's going on?" Gwen said horrified taking the prince's pulse.

"This is no time for games," Morgana said shaking the unconscious body of Arthur desperately trying to wake him up.

"We need to get Gaius." Gwen stood without delay, and sprinted out of the room towards Gaius's quarters.

It hadn't taken the young maid to reach the court physician. She didn't even bother knocking on his door.

"Arthur hurt," she panted trying to catch her breath. Gaius was sitting at the table eating his breakfast while going over some of his notes.

Looking up, Gaius spoke. "What's his condition?"

Gwen shook her head impatiently, "I don't know. Actually, I kind of do, he's out cold but I don't know how. He just sort of fell to the ground."

"Take me to him," Gaius said hastily.

Nodding, Gwen took him back to Morgana's room where Arthur now lay on her bed.

Almost instantly Gaius began examining Arthur's vitals without saying a word, taking off his shirt to listen to his breathing and heartbeat which were both erratic. Turning the prince over on his stomach, Gaius felt the back of Arthur's head but quickly pulled away when he felt a warm substance sweep over his fingertips.

"He's bleeding," Morgana's eyes went wide in fear.

"How is that possible?" Gwen asked looking at the wound on the back of Arthur's head.

"Merlin," Gaius muttered to himself before directing his gaze towards the girls. "I need you to get a bucket of water and some bandages," he said to Gwen who bowed and exited the room quickly.

"What's going on?" Morgana stepped forward looking at the wound on Arthur's head. "No one was in the room when he fell."

"It's complicated," Gaius stated hoping that she wouldn't push for any further questions. But Morgana wasn't done yet.

"Tell me."

Gaius opened his mouth to reply, but closed it as a long shallow cut ran all the way down Arthur's shoulder blade right down to the back of his waist. Blood slowly leaked out of the wound, it was shallow and wouldn't kill him, but it gave Morgana the answer she needed.

*

Merlin didn't even realise that he fell asleep during the night, and that was his biggest mistake of all. He was still wet and cold and being dragged out from underneath the bush by a man.

"What are you doing?" Merlin asked trying to see the man's face through the rain. The man didn't answer of course, but Merlin did notice a large rock in his other hand as he lifted it into the air.

Merlin tried to free himself from the man's grip, but it was no use. Before he knew what was happening, the rock slammed into the back of his head causing Merlin to bellow in pain as he felt the sharp blow instantly.

Seconds later the rock connected with the back of his head again, he never even had time to use any magic to prevent it from happening. The last thing he remembered was his head smashing against the ground as a woman in black appeared in front of him.

"You shall pay," she snarled from somewhere beneath the veil, pulling out a knife from within her black attire.

As he fell unconscious, the woman strode behind Merlin as he lay motionless on the ground. Ripping the back of his shirt open, she delicately placed the knife on the back of his shoulder blade pressing downwards drawing blood moving the knife down his back, eventually stopping around his waist as she tossed the knife aside.

Pulling away her veil, she let her tongue sweep across the sorcerer's back collecting as much blood as she could. Merlin would pay for killing her son, but not right away, it was time for a little bit of fun.

_To be continued..._


	9. Don't Look Back

**A/N: **_Seriously guys, I could all give you big hugs right now. Right now I'm having major panic attacks because of Exams next week, not to mention my first week of VCE in two weeks. It doesn't help that only now the teachers decide to dump bucket loads of homework onto me all at once. Oh, and not to mention how angry I am that I was supposed to go bowling today with my sport class, but apparently I needed a note, and no one gave me any because "apparently" I was supposed to write out my own to get signed by my grandparents. Anyway, rant over. Here's the next chapter, and I promise that Arthur shall be Merlin's knight... or rather.. prince in shining armour to save the day in the next one or two chapters. It will all depend on my mood. Reviews are loved, so please review people! Enjoy._

* * *

Uther was quick to hear of his son's condition, making haste to get to him without delay. The moment he stepped into the room, Arthur was lying on his stomach as Gaius began bandaging the wounds that covered him.

Deep purple bruises covered almost his entire back, not to mention the shallow wound that ran all that way down from his shoulder blade to his waist. At the moment Gaius was attending to the head wound, already the bandage was soaked in blood.

"What happened?" Uther asked standing over Arthur.

"We're not sure sire," Gaius said even too quickly than he would have liked.

"Gaius, what happened?" Uther glared suspiciously. He could sense the presence of magic, it was like a gift. Even since he knew of magic, Uther had tuned himself into it like a sixth sense. And right at this very moment the very room smelt of magic.

There was no reassurance from Gaius, who found a lump in his throat as he became wary of revealing anything that could lead to Merlin. Instead he worked with what he had.

"Well my lord, from what I can tell your son has suffered great damage. He appeared to have been struck down by an invisible foe," Gaius sighed in relief as the king seemed to buy his story. For the meantime that is.

"Magic," Uther muttered under his breath loud enough so that he could hear. "Will he be alright?" he said quickly snapping himself out of his thoughts of demons and sorcerer's.

"As long as his condition doesn't worsen, then yes," Gaius said placing some green paste into the wound on Arthur's back.

It was only until now that Uther realised that both Gwen and Morgana were in the room, sitting in the back corner as they whispered to one another, occasionally taking discreet glances towards Arthur as he lay on Morgana's bed.

Uther ignored them as he pulled open the window of the room, allowing the rain to pelt inside slightly. Placing his hands out the window, he collected as much of the cool liquid as possible before rubbing it over his face to sooth his troubles.

Closing it again, Uther looked over at Arthur. For some reason there was a nagging feeling in his mind that kept telling him that this was his entire fault, but dutifully ignored it. None of this was Uther's fault; this was the work of magic. Magic had no good place in the world, it was nothing but evil that corrupts those who use it, and with those who use it must be taught a lesson by paying the price.

It didn't seem to matter anymore what he did, magic always found a way of infiltrating the kingdom. But that didn't mean Uther would give up trying.

Then again, he had once sought out the help of a sorcerer to help create an heir for the throne. Arthur had been born of magic, but that was different. His son was neither evil, nor did he possess magic so therefore it didn't count.

What had been going on lately? Everything seemed to be getting more and more confusing by the day ever since that servant, Merlin arrived and became Arthur's manservant. It was as if the young boy had cast a spell over Arthur. Ever since they met both of them seemed to have gotten along, more than two men should. Perhaps it was that thought that drove Uther to insane lengths to hunting down the manservant after he slipped through the guards grasp.

Somehow Merlin had been able to escape Camelot undetected as if he had received inside help, and if he did then the person responsible would die as well. But who in their right mind would help a servant out of the city? Though, that was an answer in itself. While Merlin spent his time in Camelot, basically of the friends he made were those of the royal family or court, all of those which Uther wouldn't dare of killing.

Merlin... what was so special about one simple manservant? A clumsy idiotic boy with no sense of time could easily be replaced, so why on earth had Arthur kept him for so long?

It made Uther angry just thinking about the subject. It was quite clear to him that his son had some affection for the boy, but he never quite understood why. There was no way that Arthur could possibly _love_ a manservant; that was completely barbaric and disgusting. And if that was the case he would not just kill Merlin when the guards finally found him, the boy would be hung, drawn and quartered.

Sighing, Uther nodded at the girls before walking back towards the bed, grasping his sons hand tightly. Twice in a matter of days had Arthur befallen to a similar state, it was become too much of a regular occurrence. Sooner or later the fates would have its way and give no second chances, but that wasn't going to happen, not now or ever.

Uther was going to find whoever had done this to his son and end their meaningless lives now.

"Excuse me," Uther said swiftly turning around and leaving the room leaving the thoughts of his son behind him.

*

_Darkness. That was the first thing that registered in Arthur's mind when he examined his surroundings. But there was something else. There was someone else here with him in the darkness. _

"_Who's there," he called out hoping for some form of reply, but nothing came. The only sound was his voice echoing away in the murky blackness. _

_Then there was a figure. Barely visible in front of him, but it was there like a something moving in the corner of your eye, but when you turn around to see what it was, the shape is no longer there as if it never existed. But there was something there directly in front of him, yet not in front of him at the same time. _

_Deep inside Arthur he felt a warming sensation resembling his body catching on fire, although not in a bad way, it felt good as if he was whole again. _

"_Arthur," the voice rasped, and immediately he recognised the voice to be of Merlin's. _

"_Where are you?" Arthur called out and the translucent figure of Merlin in front of him. Merlin shrieked in agony and immediately Arthur felt a surge of pain shoot down his arm. _

"_I don't know..." Merlin replied weakly causing a tear to come to the prince's eye as he saw how much pain Merlin was in. How could this have happened? This was wrong, totally wrong. It had to be a dream. There was no other logical explanation. _

"_I'll find you," Arthur said as he attempted to touch Merlin, but pulled back in terror when his hand passed straight through the warlock._

"_Arthur..." Merlin said looking down glumly, "I want you to know that no matter what happens, you meant everything to me. My life my soul everything, even if you were a prat to me half the time."_

_Arthur found himself laughing and crying at the same time, he had no idea what to say or what to feel. It was like his body was split in half, he could feel everything Merlin was feeling but at the same time his own feelings were kicking him internally. _

"_I love you, never forget that Arthur." Merlin reached out and brushed up against Arthur's hand gently. His hand may have past straight through, but Arthur could still feel a slight prickling against his skin as it came in contact with the hand._

_Smiling, the transparent figure of Merlin disappeared in a white light, leaving Arthur alone in the darkness. _

*

When Merlin woke up the first thing that came to mind was the agonising pain that ran down his back. As he attempted to move, he found himself unable to as there was ropes binding his feet together, while his hands were tied behind his back.

In front of him sat both the man and woman he'd seen last night, and moments before he was knocked out. Both of them just appeared to be staring at him as they sat on a large rock.

Merlin was able to get a better look at the man thanks to the sunlight that managed to worm its way through the trees.

The man was fairly young. His hair was a dark brown that could easily be mistaken for black, whilst his eyes were bright green almost resembling the colour of fresh grass.

On the other hand, though, the woman's face was still covered by the black veil that hid all of her features. When glancing at her hands, Merlin could have sworn he'd seen a slit running through them as if they'd been sliced with a knife but hadn't healed. It was only a glance, as she closed her hands almost instantly leaving Merlin frightened for his life.

By the way things were going, if by the gods some miracle didn't occur soon he would dead for certain.

So, now he was freezing cold, wet, hungry, alone, tied up and surrounded by two maniacs who would no doubt kill him eventually. Things just couldn't possibly get any more exciting than this.

"You shall pay for your crimes," said the rasping voice from underneath the woman's veil.

Merlin felt his throat tightening, "I haven't committed any crimes!"

"You killed my son," she stated dryly. Even though Merlin couldn't exactly see the woman's face, he could sense that she was glaring at him fiercely.

"Oh," Merlin said slightly confused as he tried to shuffle back further on the tree, but only felt a surge of pain as the wound on his back brushed against the bark. "Which son would that be?"

It was a logical question after all, even though he could guess that it what the sorcerer from a few nights ago.

"He was only doing what he needed to survive, and you killed him. For that you must pay," she replied vaguely, tilting her head to the side as she spoke.

"Right," was all Merlin said after a long thoughtful pause.

The shadow of the man loomed over him just as a giant droplet of water fell on top of Merlin's nose, splashing him partially in the eye.

"You're lucky my mistress has spared your life for this long, sorcerer!" he sneered showing no sign of sympathy. "Althalos will be avenged."

Merlin glared at the man only to receive an excruciating kick in his side, knocking the wind right out of him.

"You know what, I don't care," Merlin said openly before bending forward as his stomach began to ache like mad. "He deserved it. I almost lost someone really close to me because of him, and I'm so sorry that he's dead," Merlin didn't bother holding back his sarcasm.

"How dare you speak of my son that way," the woman pulled Merlin off the ground with unbelievable power. She was stronger than he thought which was quite scary when he thought about it. "Quentin, untie this boy."

"But my lady," the man named Quentin protested obviously confused, but was silenced when the woman placed her hand across his mouth.

"Do it," she said. Before Merlin knew what was happening, Quentin had pulled out a knife and walked behind him. For a moment Merlin could feel the coolness of the blade touching his bare back, but it slowly made its way down to his hands. With a tugging sensation the ropes were cut, not long after the rope on his feet was also severed. It was only then that the woman pulled away her veil, revealing the monster beneath.

Merlin found himself gagging at the rotten stench that crawled its way out between a pair of splintered black lips. Her teeth were decayed and had started to go black, whilst her skin was infested with bright red swollen lumps that seemed to move if Merlin stared at them for too long. But it was her eyes that were the most disturbing of all, they were clear. They weren't just white, they were almost transparent. You could almost see the inside of her skull through the clear jelly that replaced her eyes. But there they were, clear as glass but frightening as hell. The only way Merlin was able to tell she could see was because of two tiny green pupils that lay to rest in the centre of both eyeball.

"Why do you plan on doing with me?" Merlin asked, trying not to breath in the foul breath of the woman.

"You'll find out," she replied grinning widely, showing off her mouldy teeth.

Quentin seemed to be as confused as Merlin was. The way she was smiling it was nowhere near comforting.

Not even realising what he was doing Merlin began backing slowly away from the two, almost tripping backwards over a fallen branch in the process.

"Who... who are you?" Merlin gasped as he felt his chest tighten, almost suffocating him.

It was then the woman cackled, but not from her mouth. She was in his head, worming through his every thought and memory, causing Merlin to clutch his head in pain, wincing as his fingers brushed up against a wound on the back of his head.

"_The keeper of souls," _she whispered inside his head sounding more like a buzzing noise.

She walked up to him in one swift motion, placing her soft hands over his face as she squeezed his cheeks together tightly. Merlin felt the two slits in her hands press up against his faces and stick, almost like they were sucking him in. After a moment or two she pulled away, leaving him unharmed.

"You are not complete," she said dryly, staring right into Merlin's soul with her crystal clear eyes. "Where is your other half?"

Merlin knew what she was talking about, but there was no way he was letting Arthur get involved in this.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Merlin spat back, avoiding his gaze with the woman as she flicked her black tongue out of her mouth.

"Oh, is that so? I don't believe that for a second, sorcerer," she hushed gently. Merlin half expected her to kill him then and there, but nothing happened.

Merlin shook his head quickly, "I'm just a simple manservant. Everyone knows magic is forbidden."

"Don't lie to me. I've tasted it in your blood. You are far by the most powerful sorcerer I've come across, which will make you an even better hunt."

For a moment Merlin just wanted to cast a spell on the sick woman, but the moment he opened his mouth to turn her into a butterfly or some other harmless creature, Merlin found himself gasping in horror as she began muttering the ancient words. Almost instantly all the forest life around him bean to wither and die as it slowly reduced to dust.

Even the animals that had been brave enough to stay out in the rain were now twisting and turning on the ground in pain as they decomposed quickly.

"You're a witch," Merlin found himself saying aloud.

"My mistress is a very powerful sorcerer, and with magic on her side you shall knell at her feet as she takes away your life for the life of her son," Quentin smiled broadly as he played with the knife in his hand.

"Not yet, we must not rush these things," she soothed placing a hand on Quentin's shoulder.

"What have you planned my lady?" Quentin asked with a hint of laughter that shook Merlin to the bone.

She only needed to look at Merlin to make his knee's almost collapse underneath him, and then she spoke. One word, that's all it took for Merlin to shiver in fear.

"Run."

And so Merlin did. Turning around as fast as he could, the sorcerer ran through the small clearing of ash and dust that once belonged to nature. He had no idea which way he was going, or where he was going. All that Merlin could think about was to run faster, to get as far away from her while he had the chance.

'_Arthur_..._' _Merlin thought finally finding himself away from the ash and into the forest greenery once again.

Sooner or later he was going to run out of strength, later rather than sooner hopefully. Until that time came, though, Merlin kept running as fast as he could.

*

Quentin watched the boy Merlin until he disappeared into the foliage beyond the clearing. Even now he couldn't figure out why his mistress had let the boy escape. Surely she had other intentions; after all Merlin had killed her son.

The mistress and her son both lived for one thing, and one thing alone, to survive. Every creature has some need for survival, without the will to carry on life wouldn't be worth living. But for the mistress and son to survive, they lived off others life force, their souls.

For a long time the two had managed to live off small rodents, stealing the animals souls in the dead of night. Without them, they would have died long ago much like his mistress was now.

The bond between mother and child is the most powerful of all magic, and as soon as he son had died she had felt that bond disconnect before receiving images of the boy names Merlin. Although Quentin didn't understand how magic worked, he did know that his mistress was evil.

Long ago he had been travelling through the forest, accidentally bumping into a group of Trolls while travelling to the nearby town. Just as they were about to kill him,f along came the mistress who saved his life. Ever since that moment she promised to take care of him if he were to become her servant, and at the time it seemed like a good idea. But the more he got to know her, the more he realised what a grave mistake it was. She was beyond evil. Not even the gods had any hope of stopping her.

Quentin only hopped that someone would be able to put a stop to her before it was too late.

"What shall we do now mistress? The boy is getting away."

A cruel smile formed on her lips curling upwards. Placing the veil over her face, she began walking in the direction Merlin had run.

"The hunt begins."

_To be continued..._


	10. Into the Silence

**A/N: **_Thank you guys for the awesome reviews! 'Emmmaaarr', post them god dammit! I want to read them, if you don't then I won't update the next chapter. And what exactly do you mean by my obvious plot-geniusness? I seriously don't see any thing "genius" about this story. Anyway, here's the next chapter as I promised bound to be full of errors. Enjoy, and please, please review. Otherwise I'll blackmail all of you and I won't update ever again *Mwahaha!* ^_^_

* * *

It took some effort to open his eyelids. At first Arthur felt as if they would never open again, but slowly and surely they obeyed him, snapping open with immense pain.

The first thing he noticed was the sound of blood thumping away inside his head. Pulling his strength together, Arthur used his upper body to lift him upwards so he was sitting against the soft pillow that sat neatly behind him.

Glancing out the window Arthur noticed it was still raining pouring down heavily. Somewhere out there Merlin was out there in trouble, and there was no way in hell that he was just going to sit around here and do nothing about it. Arthur was_ not_ going to lose Merlin again, not after everything that had happened between them.

Arthur could hear whispering coming from the hallway, not long after Gaius poked his head through Morgana's chamber door spotting him instantly.

"You're awake, sire," Gaius said with a shocked expression on his face.

"Well obviously," Arthur replied groggily as his head exploded with pain.

"Here," Gaius said pulling out a small vile filled with a clear liquid. "Drink this. It will make you feel better."

Swiping the vile out of his hand, Arthur gulped the liquid down in one go. It had a slightly bitter taste, and it made his vision go blurry for a moment, but he found his pain easing away.

"What... what happened?" Arthur queered looking around the room, recognising it as Morgana's. "The last thing I remember is feeling as if someone had clobbered me over the head. Did Morgana or Gwen..." Arthur trailed off noticing that Gaius was shaking his head at his theory. Even he had to admit, the possibility that either Gwen or Morgana knocking him out was slim to none. Well, Gwen anyway... Morgana on the other hand...

"I'm afraid not," Gaius said finally looking quite worried.

"What's wrong?" Arthur asked as his stomach began to feel uneasy.

Gaius didn't seem to answer straight away, which made Arthur feel even more nervous, instead the court physician paced anxiously beside the bed.

"Gaius," Arthur raised his voice. "Tell me what's wrong."

Arthur found himself biting his lower lip tightly, almost drawing blood at one point.

"Your wounds... no one here had anything to do with them. They just appeared out of nowhere," Gaius studied Arthur's head, glancing at the bandage that was now completely soaked in blood.

Placing his hands on the bandage, Gaius began unravelling the material until it no longer surrounded his head. Grabbing another piece of cloth he began winding it around Arthur's head until you could no longer see the blood dripping through his blonde hair.

"But how is that possible?" Arthur asked delicately touching the back of his head with his fingers.

The court physician stared at Arthur raising an eyebrow. It was as if he expected the prince to know the answer already. Eventually though, Gaius sighed giving up and explained.

"Merlin and yourself are connected, have you forgotten that?" Gaius asked rather with a hint of fear.

"Of course not!" Arthur exclaimed. He knew that because Merlin shared his soul with him, that Arthur was somehow connected to the sorcerer, which meant that anything that happened to one of them happened...

Arthur's eyes froze in horror and disbelief as he finally realised what had happened.

"Merlin!"

For a moment time seemed to stop dead in its tracks, allowing Arthur to gather himself together as his heart raced faster than he ever thought possible. He even forgot to swallow his saliva at one point, almost choking on it.

"I need to find him." Arthur didn't even need to think about it. Ignoring the pain, the prince gathered himself off the bed and began walking towards the door only to stop when a hand fell onto his shoulder.

"Your father has made it quite clear you are to rest, and I have to agree. This is hard for both of us, but you need to get well first," Gaius spoke softly, it was quite clear to Arthur that Gaius wanted him to go, but if he did no doubt his father would find out and punish both of them.

"Gaius, we both know that this didn't just happen by accident," Arthur growled pointing to his head as he shifted uncomfortably on the spot.

"I know..." Gaius said looking at the bandage that had already begun to absorb the blood. "But..." he began, but Arthur wasn't finished yet.

"And we both know that whoever did this could hurt Merlin again for all we know," Arthur said trying to get his point across before Gaius found anything to say himself. "I have a chance to save him, if I don't do anything soon Merlin could die."

"We don't even know where he is," Gaius commented in a harsh whisperer Arthur didn't even know was possible for the old man.

"Oh..." he replied not knowing what to say. Every glint of hope he had moments ago was now gone, what was he supposed to do now? Just sit around here and do nothing while Merlin was out in the cold probably being torture or even worse.

He could feel that Merlin was scared, Arthur had no idea how but he knew. The rain outside had calmed down slightly and it was beginning to get dark once again.

That was it, Arthur pushed past Gaius and into the corridor topless.

"I am _not_ sitting around here while Merlin's in trouble, I won't! Go tell my father, see if I care." Arthur said to Gaius who smiled slightly, but coughed abruptly as he stared behind Arthur.

"Tell me what?" Uther said relived to see his son up and well once again as he grasped his son tightly, brushing up against the wound on his back causing Arthur to push away from his father violently.

"This is all your fault!" Arthur bellowed at his father even louder than he expected, but didn't care in the slightest. His father seemed completely taken aback by his son's outburst.

"Don't raise your voice at me," the king said equalling Arthur's tone.

"Shut up," Arthur spat walking away from his father. Uther looked directly at Gaius who just shrugged as if he had no idea what was going on.

"Don't you dare walk away from me," Uther warned, but Arthur wasn't listening. "Get back here this instant!"

This time Arthur did hear and immediately turned around and paced quickly back towards his father and let loose the hardest right uppercut he could muster. His fist smashed directly into the side of Uther's face knocking him to the floor. He was now clutching his left cheek in pain, as Gaius rushed to his side giving a quick smile to Arthur as he turned around and walked away not even thinking twice about what he had just done, or the consequences that would follow.

*

Uther couldn't believe what had just happened. Did Arthur really just hit him? He soon got the answer as Gaius poked at the tender spot Arthur's fist had connected with.

"Gaius, send for the guards. I want Arthur confined to his quarters, I'm afraid he's out of control," Uther grunted resting his head against the stone wall.

"I'm sorry my lord, I can't do that," Gaius admitted poking the spot again to make sure the kings face wasn't too badly damaged.

"Why not?" Uther glared as he attempted to stand up.

"Because," Gaius said hesitantly, "Arthur is not out of control, he's in love. Even I can see that."

Uther found himself laughing at his court physician.

"Well why didn't he just tell me?" Uther asked glad that his son had finally found a nice woman to have by his side.

"That is not for me to discuss with you, this has nothing to do with me," Gaius answered.

Uther shrugged, he had a point of course.

"At least tell me this woman's name," Uther asked completely forgetting that Arthur had punched him.

"You won't like it," Gaius warned obviously hoping the king would stop asking questions.

"Just tell me!" Uther snapped at Gaius who took a small step back.

"...Merlin," Gaius said reluctantly knowing the consequences that would follow.

"You amuse me Gaius, but seriously, who is my son in love with?" Uther said not believing for a second that Arthur was in love with his manservant who had fled the kingdom.

"You must pardon me sire, but you truly are a blind old man. Arthur loves Merlin. Anyone who dares to look can see that. Have you ever once wondered why Arthur has been acting strange the past few days, just once?" Gaius spoke freely.

"That is the most _ridiculous _thing I have ever heard," Uther flared his nostrils at this disgusting lie. "Why would Arthur love a simple servant? My son is not some... _freak_ who loves men. I know my son better than anyone. Now just tell me, I promise I won't let anyone find out."

Gaius shook his head and muttered something under his breath that the king couldn't quite make out.

"Whether you believe me or not, that's your choice sire. Now if you excuse me, I'm well behind in my deliveries."

Uther didn't attempt to stop Gaius as he turned around as he was so caught up in his own thoughts. Arthur couldn't possibly be in love with Merlin, it was completely barbaric! If this was true, how hadn't he managed to spot it beforehand? Although, if this was true it just gave him more of a reason to kill Merlin once he found him

The guards had already begun searching through the outer towns, as well as sending a few knights to Ealdor as that seemed the most obvious placed that the servant would go. Sooner or later, though, he would find Merlin and end things once and for all.

*

For some inexplicable reason, Arthur felt so much better after punching his father in the face. If only he'd hit a little bit harder, though, he didn't want to knock his father unconscious, he wanted Uther to feel the pain. Regrettably there was no way he could show the real pain his father was putting him through.

Right now he was inside his chambers grabbing a somewhat clean shirt and putting it on. On the way to his room, there were many people who had stopped to gawk as he walked through the castle shirtless giving them full view of all the bruises on his back.

Makin sure the shirt didn't rub to badly against the wound running down his back, Arthur pulled out his scarlet tunic as well as placing his sword around his waist. He flinched in pain as the scabbard rubbed through his shirt against his back.

Just as he went to leave his room Morgana entered with her hair tied back in an unusual fashion that didn't suit her in the least, as well as wearing her own chain mail.

"What are you doing here?" Arthur asked crossing his arms.

"I know what you plan on doing," she replied imitating Arthur's posture.

"Get out of my way Morgana," Arthur demanded trying to push past her, but she didn't budge. She wasn't going to move until he listened to what she had to say.

"I have no idea what's really going on, or how those marks appeared out of nowhere, but I'm not letting you go out there alone to find Merlin," she said gently.

"It's complicated," Arthur replied in defence.

"Complicated or not, I'm not allowing you to go out there alone in your condition. What happens if something happens to you and there's no one around to help? I would never be able to forgive myself, so that's why I'm coming with you," Morgana said with a deep sigh that was Arthur's sign that she was finished.

"Morgana, as much as I appreciate your help, you're not coming with me," Arthur replied dryly.

"I can and I will Arthur Pendragon. Sometimes I wonder if you really are as stubborn as you make out to be," Morgana said raising an eyebrow.

"But..." Arthur began to protest but Morgana cut him off by placing one finger across his lips.

"If you argue the point one more time, I will chain you to your bed so you can't go anywhere," Morgana warned and Arthur knew she would actually go ahead with it.

"Fine," Arthur rolled his eyes squeezing past Morgana towards the stables.

*

Seriously, what was with men and their pride? So far all Arthur had managed to do was glare at her ever since they'd left the princes chambers. Morgana wasn't sure which was worse; the fact that she was risking her own life to go with Arthur, or not going with Arthur with could result in his death. It was a lose-lose situation, so she choose the easy option and decided to go with him instead of doing nothing.

Gwen had spotted Arthur walking through the corridor shirtless who informed Morgana quickly while she was eating breakfast in the dining hall. The second she heard the information, Morgana had a terrible feeling what he planned on doing. Ever since the dreams of the woman in black, there were short moments where she could have sworn there were flashes or Arthur, but merely flashes. They went by so quickly that she had no idea if they were actually him or not, but she wasn't going to take that chance.

It wasn't as if she'd hold him up, and when it came to fighting with a sword she would be able to take care of herself. After all, she was pretty good with a sword if she said so herself. She'd even been able to defeat Arthur in a sword fight a few years back, the loser had to do everything the other commanded for an entire week. Oh what fun Morgana had with that, _especially_ the time she'd made Arthur clean her room not long after placing large spiders all throughout it. The shriek Arthur made when he reached under her bed and one of the spiders began crawling up his arm was highly amusing, particularly because he sounding like a scared little girl. Of course she made him remove all the spiders from her room so she wouldn't have to worry herself that one of them would crawl onto her bed in the middle of the night.

Finally finding their way to the stables, Morgana hopped upon her own horse after helping Arthur get onto his without hurting himself too badly. He still had the bandage wrapped around his head, already it needed to be changed as was beginning to fill with blood. Thankfully she had managed to nick a few strips of the material to use in case they needed it while looking for Merlin in the forest.

"Do you have any idea where to look?" Morgana asked as their horses slowly trotted out of the stables.

Arthur looked as if he could fall off his horse any minute after they reached the city's gates.

"No," was all the prince replied causing Morgana to shrug it off. This was just perfect, they had no idea where they were going and it was still raining. This was probably the longest time it had rained in quite a while now that she thought about it, though last winter was pretty bad also.

An hour had passed and they were now somewhere deep within the forest. The ground was completely soaked and flooded as the water could no longer be absorb into the soil.

So far they hadn't even seen a bird fly past nor had they heard anything that would indicate the forest harboured any form of life. It was just silence all around them except for the occasional raindrop that would drop from the tree's above and into the puddles of water.

Morgana felt a twinged of sympathy for Arthur. It wasn't long ago that she had seen him happier than ever before, only turn into an empty shell as Merlin was drove out of Camelot by Uther. She had a feeling it was Arthur that managed to help him escape, and she was glad for that. To die at the hands of Uther was the worst thing of all. He would show no sympathy for Merlin. If ever Uther honestly found out that his son was in love with another guy, there would be chaos throughout the kingdom. But Uther was thick. Thick and blind, even if the evidence was staring in his face point blank he would refuse to believe it. Of course, though, this was a blessing and a curse.

Hopefully Uther would never find out about the boys relationship. That was the last thing that anybody needed was Uther disinheriting Arthur because he didn't love a woman like he expected his son to. It was something that perhaps the king had never considered, but it was sort of hard to believe that Arthur would be attracted to men. Women all across the kingdom all were dying to have their own piece of Arthur Pendragon, but of course he just wasn't interested. It was around about then that Morgana began to have suspicions of the prince's sexuality.

Of course, that was another story entirely. All that mattered now was to find Merlin before he froze to death... or worse.

Glancing over towards the prince, Morgana thought about the heavy burden that Arthur wore on his shoulders. One day he would become a great king that would rule over all fairly, but that day wasn't meant to be quite yet. Arthur wasn't ready, and as long as Uther still lived he would never be ready.

"Argh!" Arthur grunted painfully as he clutched his hand, falling off his horse face-first into the mud.

"Arthur!" Morgana shrieked quickly hopping off her own horse as she helped the prince out of the mud. Yanking him up in one go, she began removing the mud off his face. "Seriously, you would think that you had some form of balance."

"Shut up," Arthur retorted still clutching his hand.

"What have you done this time," Morgana sighed pulling out the bandage she had been keeping tucked away just in case something like this happened.

"Nothing," Arthur replied letting go of his hand revealing the wound underneath.

It was shallow, nothing to serious, but enough to sting like hell. But then the one lined wound on the back of Arthur's hand began to grow as more and more strokes appeared in his flesh. Both of them looked in horror as the final line was made.

As small droplets of blood appeared on the back of his hand, the lines began to glow red from his blood reading two words that stained their minds.

_Help me_

_To be continued..._


	11. Written In Blood

**A/N: **_Wow. Thanks guys for the awesome reviews! I was seriously joking about taking the last chapter hostage... but seeing that everyone must have taken the joke seriously, I think I will take the next chapter hostage unless you review =P Merthurtilidie, how dare you blackmail me! I'm the only one who's allowed to blackmail here. Hmph! Anyway, here's the next chapter. It's actually longer than I expected, so please, please review! It took an entire day to write. The next chapter will hopefully be updated perhaps tomorrow night. Enjoy!_

* * *

If Merlin wasn't lost before, he sure as hell was lost now. There was no time Merlin could ever remember travelling so deep into the forest, especially in these conditions. At least there was a bright side to all this, though, it was no longer raining.

Although this was a good thing, Merlin was still freezing cold as his shirt was completely torn and in shreds, while his pants were lined with tears from the thorn bushes he had to run through a little over an hour ago.

Merlin couldn't help but obey what that woman said, even right this instant her voice echoed repeatedly in his head. Why had she left him go? It was a question Merlin puzzled over, but sure as hell didn't want to find out which was an even better reason not to stop running.

But unfortunately even he had his limits. Eventually Merlin had run out of adrenalin not to mention breath, so he gave into his body's needs and took a quick break. Even though he had run far away from the woman and her servant, Merlin could sense their presence nearby, as if they were just waiting for the right moment to attack him.

How he knew though was weird, it was almost as if he could sense her magic. But if that was the case, then no doubt she could sense his and use it against him.

For now, though, Merlin was hiding in a small cavern located in a cliff wall. It wasn't that big, well, actually it was insanely small, but he managed to crotch inside of it giving him some sense of security as he was no longer out in the open.

Merlin's stomach rumbled abruptly indicating it was hungry, if only he could comply too its wishes and feed it some nice food. Looking beyond the small save, Merlin searched for anything that might be even remotely edible. Of course, naturally there was nothing except for a few pine trees, and there was no way he was going to even try eating pine nuts. The last time he had was when he was little and ended up breaking one of his front teeth, accidentally swallowing it. It was only when he realised it was missing that Merlin had panicked thinking someone had stolen it.

It was then that Merlin noticed a two baby rabbits bounce past followed by their mother. As much as Merlin found himself dying for food, he didn't have the heart to kill the innocent animals, not after seeing one getting ripped in half and clobbered against a rock.

Sighing, Merlin rested his head against the back part of the cave and thought of Arthur. All he could think about was what Arthur possibley could be doing right now. No doubt he had forgotten all about him, and was most likely already looking for a new manservant to replace him. But if he wasn't, there was no way Arthur would ever be able to find him, not now. He didn't even know himself which was a comforting thought in its own.

Arthur... it was so stupid of him to leave the city alone. He needed Arthur with him, but there was no way of contacting him. It was just another hopeless situation. Even now Merlin regretted never showing Arthur how much he truly loved him, honestly, he was such an idiot in waiting so long to admit his feelings, and now that he had everything seemed lost.

It was almost as if everything that had happened was just a dream now, it never really happened, it was just all in his mind. Merlin knew he was lying to himself though; of _course_ what had happened was real.

A flicker of movement in the bushes to his right caught Merlin's attention, forcing him to press his bare flesh up against the cave wall. Moments later two figures appeared from between the foliage and Merlin knew instantly who they were.

Her black veil was unmistakeable as she prowled the area, limping every now and again. Merlin could still picture those clear jelly eyes staring straight into him almost as if she could burn right through his skin just by looking at him.

"There's no use hiding, I can sense your magic," she sneered lifting her veil revealing her revolting facial features. So far she hadn't looked over in his direction, thankfully the small cave was well hidden due to large boulders as well as vines and roots that crept from the ground up the cliff.

"You can't hide forever, I will find you," the woman spoke musically as if the entire thing was just a game to her and nothing more. "If you don't come out on your own accord, I will do it for you."

Silence. Merlin didn't say a word let along dare to breath in case she heard.

"No?" she asked to thin air. "In that case..." All of a sudden she began speaking magic that Merlin had never even heard of before, and gasped in horror as an invisible force gripped him by the throat and pulled him out of his hiding place. Struggling did no good whatsoever, it just made him choke even harder until he was standing directly in front of the woman, her skin still moving as he stared at it.

"Can't... breathe...." Merlin croaked, instantly the sensation of suffocation ceased allowing his lungs to fill up once again with air.

"Honestly, I thought you were going to be a much more exciting hunt than this, but no matter," she shrugged as she flicked her tongue in Merlin's face, brushing the slimy muscle over the side of his face.

"You've had your fun my lady, just finish him off," Quentin said emotionlessly shifting uncomfortably on the spot.

The woman hissed sharply causing Merlin to frantically search around him to see of anything that he could use to protect himself. There of course were boulders that were way to big, trees, also to big and a puddle of water beneath them.

Water... surely not. It was a stupid idea. But it was his _only _idea. Closing his eyes, Merlin concentrated deeply before snapping his eyes open quickly as they flashed gold. Instantly the water began creeping up the woman's legs as it tightened itself around her, pinning her to the spot.

"What are you doing?" Quentin shrieked pushing Merlin aside as he began to help his mistress.

The water was alive. It had a mind of its own now as it climbed further and further up her body, encompassing itself around her as she struggled against the force of nature.

Merlin watched as she found herself unable to move, but for how long? How long would the water be able to hold her until she managed to break free? The murky water swelled and dropped over her as it clamped itself around her chest, spreading over every extremity of her body.

Taking the opportunity to get away while he could, Merlin dashed through the tree's as far away as possible. After a few minutes he found himself at a riverbank, stones and pebbles scattered along the ground in both directions like a path.

Great, so now he had to face the hardest choice for mankind. Left of right? Some people would say it's quite an easy decision, but when death is following closely behind and you have no idea where you are or going, it can be a reasonably difficult task.

Left Merlin finally decided, sort of, there was a loud shriek from the direction he'd just come from which prompted him to start running anywhere. A sudden thought dawned on Merlin, everything that had happened to him, the wounds, his head, they all would have happened to Arthur also. Gaius's words rung inside his mind.

'_You __two are somehow connected.'_

But then if that had happened then maybe he could communicate with him. Send for help, anything. It was worth a try anyway. Picking up the sharpest rock off the ground, Merlin pressed the jagged edge of the stone against his skin on the back of his hand. Taking a deep breath he began scraping lines into his skin, painfully biting his lip as the stone scraped away the first two layers of his flesh.

"Help me," Merlin muttered to himself, throwing the rock on the ground once he had finished with it and started running again.

*

Quentin watched as his mistress muttered ancient words, her lips moving and forming vowel's and syllables that he had heard many times before. Instantly the water, that was no up to her throat almost suffocating her, evaporated into a cloud of white steam.

Ever he had to admit his mistress looked quite distress and terrified from the event. He never expected a skinny servant boy to possess such powerful magic, not even _she_ had that much power and that said something. But she was still quite a match for the boy, a simple parlour trick, that's all it was to her, nothing more.

"Are you alright?" he tried to say feeling no sympathy whatsoever for her. It was a shame the boy hadn't managed to kill her then and there, ending the terrible things he had to endure whilst travelling with the mistress. The things she had made him do. The people she had forced him to kill. Even to this day he could still remember the faces of every man, woman and child he had been ordered to slaughter for the mistresses' needs.

"No," she croaked gravely, gripping onto her throat. "Where did he go?"

"I believe that way," Quentin replied pointing in the direction Merlin had run off to after hurting the mistress.

Without saying a word, she paced quickly in the direction he had just pointed.

"What do you intend to do with boy now?" he asked knowing that she was now no longer in the mood for games. The mistress now knew what the boy could do, and without even uttering a single word, even she couldn't do that.

"If you say one more word I will rip out your tongue and devour your soul for my very survival," she hissed reaching out placing one of her sharp finger nails against the lump on his neck.

Taking heed of her warnings, Quentin found it wiser to stay silent. He knew she wouldn't even think twice about doing it either, he had once witness her clawing a guys eyes out, so her threat was nothing compared to the other things she could do.

Swiftly following the mistress, he made sure not to disturb her as she paced unbelievably fast across the forest floor until they reached a river.

"Which way?" he asked only to receive a warning glare from those clear eyes of hers, the tiny specks of green almost gone now. How she managed to see was beyond him, you would think it was clearly impossible but obviously not.

Her nose flicked upwards as it inhaled massive amounts of air, slowly turning around in a circle sniffing every direction until she stopped looking downstream, towards their left.

"This way," she snarled and began walking fast towards the left, limping the entire time. Usually she didn't have a limp, but as her power weakened the mistress's body weakened along with it. It was what made her and her son so different; she collected souls for the hunt, the pleasure. Althalos on the other hand was more interested in power, the more souls he collected the more powerful he became as he aimed for the heavens to become one of the gods. Quentin had only met Althalos on a few occasions, but the moment he saw him, he knew that he was as evil as his mother, if not worse.

Sooner or later, though, the mistress will fall. If not, then many people would die, including Merlin.

*

Both of them stared blankly at the words written into Arthur's flesh. Thoughts raced through the prince's mind faster than he thought possible.

"How?" Morgana looked bewilderedly at the wound, examining every inch of it. "What's going on?"

Arthur seriously couldn't think of an answer, he had no idea in the slightest. All that he knew was that somehow Merlin had figured out a way to communicate with him, which meant that he would be able to find him!

"I'm not sure," he lied. If he told Morgana the truth about him and Merlin sharing a soul, then no doubt she would freak out.

"Don't lie to me Arthur Pendragon," Morgana glared deeply at him as she mentally backed him into a corner.

"Fine," Arthur snapped as Morgana placed the bandage around Arthur's hand. "Do you want the long story or the short one?"

"Make it the _really_ short one," she replied with her arms crossed.

Taking a deep breath Arthur prayed hoping that what he was just about to tell her wouldn't freak her out.

"The sorcerer from the other night stole Merlin's soul in the forest, I exchanged my soul for Merlin's," Arthur was talking faster than he thought, but at the moment he couldn't really care less, "which in turn caused Merlin to split his soul sharing half of it with me."

For a few moments Arthur tried to regain his breath while Morgana gathered her thoughts together, she appeared to be thinking extremely hard at the same time avoiding his gaze.

"So Merlin's a sorcerer...?" Morgana said quietly.

"Yes," Arthur cringed hoping she wouldn't try and kill Merlin also.

"How long have you known?" she asked biting her bottom lip.

"Not long, a few days..." he replied kicking the ground with his foot.

"And you don't care that he's a sorcerer?" Morgana inquired as if she expected him to say he did care that Merlin was sorcerer.

"Maybe not everyone who practices magic is evil," Arthur said still unsure how Morgana was taking it all in. "I mean, as much as Merlin is an idiot, he's not evil. Perhaps my father had it wrong the entire time."

"Arthur..." she began, but stopped to take a deep breath. "What would you do if I told you I'm a seer? Would you have me killed? Hypothetically of course..."

That was a tough one to find a response. Morgana was like a sister to him, and there was no way he could bare seeing her being killed.

"Well, _hypothetically_ I wouldn't believe you if you told me. But if I did believe you, I wouldn't care. As much as I hate to admit it, I care about you," there was a slight chuckle from Morgana that caused Arthur to shoot a look that welded her mouth shut so he could continue. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason," she replied helping Arthur back onto his own horse.

"Okay..." Arthur said confused but let it pass seeing no point to argue.

Arthur looked down at the bandage wrapped around his hand and began thinking what to do. If Merlin had managed to talk to him by writing on his own skin, perhaps if he did the same then would happen to Merlin if he did the same.

"Hand me your knife," Arthur said pointing to Morgana's waist where she had a knife concealed.

"What for?" Pulling out the knife, she reluctantly handed it to Arthur.

"Finding out where Merlin is."

Pressing the tip of the knife against the back of his forearm, Arthur began imprinting "Where are you?" into his skin. The sharpness of the knife slid across his skin with ease, cutting the flesh in straight lines and angles, almost pushing too hard at one point causing him to wince in pain.

Morgana just watched in horror as he continued writing in his arm, at one point Arthur thought she was about to grab the knife out of his hand to stop him from continuing, but thankfully she stayed back until the last line was complete.

"What now?" she asked glancing down at his arm as it began to bleed heavily, the red substance oozing down his arm.

Arthur honestly didn't care about the pain he was in; all that mattered was that he could find Merlin before it got too dark to see. The sun was already setting as the yellow ball of flame began to disappear below the horizon.

"We wait I guess," he replied allowing Morgana to use the last bit of material to cover the wound on his arm.

It wasn't often that Arthur prayed for a miracle, but right now that's all that he could think about. He needed Merlin back in his life, if he were to die, then who knows what might happen to himself. Would Arthur die as well? If so, then at least that was he wouldn't have to bear living his life without the sorcerer.

No, he shouldn't think like that. Merlin wasn't going to die, not when Arthur was still alive. He _would_ find him, and no one was going to get in his way to save the person he loved.

A surge of pain on Arthur's opposite line caught his attention quite quickly almost as if he'd be prodded with a hot iron rod. The lines weren't as straight as before, they were awkwardly placed almost as if it took some effort to write them. Eventually, though, the two worded response was all Arthur needed to know where Merlin was, or around about anyway.

_The River_

"Let's go," Arthur said quickly nudging the horse's sides as he set off into the direction of the river. It wasn't that far away, but it would take maybe a good while to reach it as the final speck of sunlight disappeared beyond the horizon leaving the two in pitch blackness.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright?" Morgana said as the horses weaved in and out of the foliage and stones that laid the ground.

"I don't know," he replied unsure as he wondered where Merlin could be along the river. There was really only one river in this area of the kingdom, and it stretched out for miles. Either way though, Merlin had to be nearby, he could feel it.

The further they got closer to the river the more and more darker their surroundings became, after a while Arthur could no longer see any further in front of him than the horse's head.

The sound of rushing water got Arthur's full and undivided attention. Stopping the horse, Arthur hauled himself off the animal allowing his feet to land neatly on the hard ground.

"Get off your horse," Arthur called out as he made out the vague outline of Morgana still upon her horse. Morgana hopped off her horse and tied it up to a nearby tree.

"What are you doing?" she whispered finally getting into Arthur's line of sight.

"If Merlin is being chased or captured, we don't want the attackers knowing where coming. The horses would give away our position. It will be easier to travel by foot."

It was true, though, if their position was compromised then they had little hope in getting to Merlin in time. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into, all that they did know was that Merlin was somewhere along the river.

Leaving the horses behind them, Arthur pulled out his sword as the sound of water got closer and closer until he found himself on the rocky riverbank.

There was a fair distance between this side of the river and the other, typically it appeared to be the widest part but other than that it looked quite shallow.

Something on the other side of the river caught Arthur's attention, two dark silhouettes creeping out from between the trees. He couldn't make out their whispering, but they did appear to be heading downriver.

Arthur made a silent gesture towards Morgana as they quickly hid on the forests edge to stay out of sight. Who in their right mind would be out this late at night, especially after the extreme wet weather?

"This way," Arthur hushed moving slowly in the same direction the other two figures were moving, downstream.

Morgana and Arthur silently paced through the tress avoid all sight with the two dark shapes on the other side of the river. Passing between two large boulders, there was a loud cry of pain from up ahead. Immediately Arthur felt his side ache in pain just in time to see a flash of dazzling green light from the other side, illuminating a woman's face; or what would be considered a woman's face.

As the green light left her, it fired further down the river until it stopped in front of an extremely large tree root that had climbed a small cliff. In front of the root was Merlin.

Arthur felt another surge of pain that knocked the wind straight out of his body, knocking him to the ground.

"Arthur!" Morgana pounced down at the ground to assist Arthur up. It felt like someone had charged into him with a jousting stick, the pain distinct but bearable.

"I'm fine," he groaned pushing her aside as he looked through the trees as the two shadows loamed over where Arthur had seen Merlin. "We need to get over there."

"We can't, they'll see us straight away. There's not exactly anywhere to hide once we leave these trees," Morgana momentary looked over in the direction of Merlin.

"I don't care..." Arthur felt another harsh blow, sending him flying backwards into a boulder. "If we don't do anything now, he could die!"

Morgana didn't reply, instead she took one glance at Arthur and another to the other side of the river to where Merlin was cornered and sighed.

"Come on," she gripped him by the arm accidentally apply pressure onto the bandage causing Arthur to wince in pain.

Without hesitating, Arthur revealed himself from behind the tree line and onto the riverbank. He was out in the open now. Anyone would be able to see him now if they looked in their direction.

Taking a step into the river, Arthur and Morgana waded out into the water. The freezing liquid went all the way up to his chest, wrapping him in the free flowing body of water. For a moment Arthur thought he was going to be swept away by the river, but his feet stayed solid on the streams floor.

Morgana wasn't far behind him, but it appeared she was having trouble staying in a straight line as the current threatened to push her further away.

Arthur could now clearly make out the two figures, one appeared to be a rather large man with a similar build to himself, whilst the other was even more horrible to look at closer rather than far away. So far neither of them appeared to have noticed them closing in behind them as they were too busy surrounding Merlin.

He watched as the woman slapped Merlin across his face, and immediately Arthur felt claw marks burn into his face.

Trying to ignore the pain as best he could Arthur drew nearer to the opposite bank but froze when the woman began turning around. Seeing no place to hide himself, Arthur took the deepest breath he could and submerged himself underwater.

He couldn't see a thing. The murky darkness was the only thing visible, beyond that there was nothing. Water tried to force itself down Arthur's throat but he wouldn't allow it, he wasn't going to give in to nature, not after coming so far.

As the dampness began to fill his nose, Arthur began to choke as the need for oxygen grew stronger. It was the most excruciating pain he'd ever experienced until he could no longer stay underwater. Using his feet, Arthur pushed off the river floor and surfaced, gasping for breath.

It was a grave mistake though. Arthur felt his throat tighten as a pair of transparent eyes stared directly at him, and to make things even worse Morgana was nowhere in sight.

_To be continued..._

**_Please review... or else..._**


	12. Breathe

**A/N: **_This chapter's a little shorter than the other ones, sorry guys. Thanks for all the lovely reviews, and I promise no more blackmailing. I hope you guys are enjoying it so far, I think there's only about four chapters left to go so I'm going to make the most of it. I promise the chapters coming will be based purely on Merlin/Arthur... mostly. Anyway, reviews are loved! Enjoy! _

* * *

Arthur didn't know what to do. All he could see was the fear in Merlin's eyes as his head turned rapidly towards him.

"Run!" Merlin shouted out causing Arthur to dash out of the river as fast as possible, but not to get away. Pulling out his sword, Arthur charged at the woman and man showing no mercy.

Only inches away from them, Arthur realised that the woman was chanting some sort of incantation under her breath until Arthur felt his legs slowing down coming to a final stop.

He tried to lift his feet off the rocky ground, but they were stuck almost as if someone had nailed his feet into the stones.

"Let me go!" Arthur growled as he attempted to free himself, but it was no good, he wasn't going anywhere. There was nothing he could do. He had failed Merlin and himself, now both of them would surely die.

The woman strode over towards Arthur and began examining his body, taking a deep breath right against his ear.

"So here's your other half," the woman said, not to Arthur but to Merlin who was now standing upright. He looked completely worn out not to mention terrible, he was bleeding all over the place. There was a distinct trail of blood running down his neck from the head wound and identical scratch marks all over his body. His body was cacked in dirt which covered almost every crack of his skin and he was shivering. All Arthur wanted to do was grip Merlin tightly and kiss him until the sun rose.

"Leave him alone!" Merlin spat as he took a wobbly step forward.

"Silence," she hissed. "Quentin, remove all weapons from this one," the woman indicated to the man who immediately began to pat down Arthur. Removing his only weapon, Quentin backed away from Arthur leaving him completely powerless.

"I swear if you don't let me go..." Arthur started but found himself gagging as the woman breathed into his face.

"Do what? Kill me? I'd like to see you try." She placed her hand over the bandage on Arthur's arm and began to squeeze tightly. The pain was instant. Both Arthur and Merlin felt the agony and collapsed to the ground in a pile.

But Arthur didn't stay on the ground long, pushing himself up he found his balance and stared right into the woman's crystal clear eyes.

"You do _not_ want to mess with me," Arthur warned as he felt all the muscles in his body tighten.

Taking a quick glance over her shoulder, Arthur watched as Merlin struggled to get to his feet. It hurt the prince deeply to see Merlin like this.

"You have no power over me," she laughed dryly.

"Maybe not him, but I do," Merlin spoke loudly from behind her before taking a step towards her. The man, Quentin tried to stop him but he was thrown backwards into the cliff, Arthur could have sworn he'd seen a flash of gold in Merlin's eyes beforehand.

Before Arthur knew what was going on, there was a flash of blinding purple light that shot towards Merlin but never hit him. Just as the energy reached in front of the sorcerer, it spread out into different directions leaving Merlin untouched as his body was encased in some sort of barrier.

"You seriously picked the wrong person to mess with," spoke the cold voice of Merlin as he moved closer to the woman who was now backing away closer to the river. "There's one thing and one thing only that has always kept me fighting, and that's Arthur."

A sudden flicker of movement from behind a rock caught Arthur's attention. The figure crept closer and closer until he finally realised who it was. Morgana! She must have gotten swept further downstream. She placed a finger over her lips indicating for him to ignore her presence.

"How touching, I'll be sure to think of that when I devour your soul. It shall be a pleasure knowing that it was one capable of such power," she hissed still backing into the river unaware of the large rock that was in her path.

Another step back and she lost her balance, toppling backwards into the water's edge. The light show ceased as she attempted to quickly stand up, it was then that Morgana revealed herself from behind the rock and charged with her sword in front of her.

But she wasn't quick enough. Just as Arthur had failed before, just as she was meters away from the woman, her transparent eyes transfixed themselves onto Morgana who stopped dead in her tracks, dropping her sword onto the ground.

Arthur stood there helplessly as he watched the events unfold around him. There was nothing he could do except wait until it was all over.

That was when Arthur saw Merlin's eyes blaze with a golden light just as the woman began to raise her hands above her head.

Behind him, Arthur began to hear the sound of rushing water getting faster. Glancing over his shoulder all Arthur could do was stagger backwards as all the water in the river began to collect into one single body of water.

It was amazing and yet terrifying at the same time as the water began to transform into the figure of a hand. Arthur looked back at Merlin and watched as the young sorcerer had his hand outstretched moving his fingers as if almost for the first time. It was then that Arthur realised the hand in the water was Merlin's hand... he was controlling the water.

The spell on Morgana broke allowing her to move freely as the woman fired blasts of energy into the hand, passing straight through the body of water. Once it had reached the other side, the hole that the magic had caused was sealed over as the liquid regrouped.

"Move it!" Merlin called out as the enormous hand surged downwards upon the woman, almost hitting Arthur and Morgana.

"You shall... not... win!" she shrieked out from underneath the hand as the two battled fiercely. Arthur occasionally caught glimpses through the water as she combated magic with magic, but neither side was losing, they were evenly matched.

Arthur took once glance over to Merlin and saw him weakening. He wasn't going to last much longer, he would feel it.

"We can't just stand here!" Morgana cried also noticing Merlin was slowly losing his hold on the water.

"I know," Arthur gritted his teeth thinking of something, anything that he could use to help Merlin. The only thing that appeared to be of any use was Morgana's sword that still lay stationary on the ground directly next to the body of water.

It was the only way, there was no other choice.

"If I don't make it... tell Merlin that he meant everything to me."

Without saying another word Arthur rushed forwards and picked up the sword off the ground, running straight into the wall of water.

*

Water. That's all Arthur could see and feel as he moved deeper and deeper into the volume of water that was once the river. He had no idea how far in the woman was, or which way to go, all that Arthur did know was that he was running out of air.

But there she was, just ahead inside a little bubble of air turning the water into steam around her. Just as Arthur felt as if he would run out of air, he stepped into the small bubble of air as the water continued to turn into steam.

The look on the sorcerer's face dropped as she realised she wasn't alone anymore. Arthur gripped the sword tightly in his hands and raised it above his head.

"This is for hurting Merlin," Arthur swung the sword hitting her in the arm, the metal sliced straight through both flesh and bone as her arm dropped to the ground.

The woman shrieked in pain, giving the water around them a chance to push in closer towards them from all angles.

"This is for touching Merlin," Arthur continued piecing the blade into her stomach allowing blood to flow freely over the stone ridden ground beneath them.

"And this from me!"

With one clean swipe of the blade, Arthur lodge the sword through her neck showing no mercy as her mouth gaped open in horror. A tiny trail of blood left her mouth as her lifeless body fell onto the stones, her blood staining the ground until eventually disappearing into the water as it came crashing down upon them. After that everything went black.

*

Merlin collapsed to the ground as the last of his strength was used up. The water that he had been controlling splashed to the ground covering everything in the entire area.

His breathing became erratic and uneven as he struggled to breath, that's when he saw Arthur lying on the ground soaking wet next to the lifeless body of the women.

"Arthur!" Merlin croaked out dryly as Morgana rushed over to the prince's side.

"He's not breathing," she replied listening to his chest.

Merlin wasn't going to doubt that for a second, with every passing second Merlin's lungs struggled to take in another mouthful of air. Any moment now he was going to be in the same condition as Arthur, why had he been so stupid? He should have stayed where he was, but no, he had to go rushing into the enchanted water. Not again, Merlin couldn't lose Arthur again.

His breath raced in and out almost to the point of hyperventilation as Merlin attempted to gather up enough oxygen in his own lungs. Already the world around him was begging to go blurry and causing him to feel giddy.

Arthur's lips were slowly turning blue as well as the veins leading up his neck that were clearly visible now.

"Breathe," Merlin pleaded placing his fingers between the prince's lips prying them open. He snatched Arthur's chin and pointed it upwards towards the star ridden sky. Taking a painful deep breath, Merlin pressed his lips down upon Arthur's while using his other hand to cover the prince's nose so the gust of air travelling down Arthur's throat reached his lungs.

Merlin's sight began to get fuzzier as he slowly began to slip in and out of consciousness. Morgana's voice could be heard somewhere in the distance.

"Come on Arthur, get up."

Taking another deep breath, he blew another strong blast of air between Arthur's lips. His chest rose immensely and dropped not long after, one last breath, that's all he had left.

Gasping for the final speck of air, Merlin forced a third and final breath down Arthur's throat. The colour of Arthur's lips darkened to an even deeper shade of blue as the last ounce of air left Merlin's lungs and into Arthur's.

Arthur jerked beneath him as his eyes snapped open as the hacking cough that had built inside of him erupted, a small amount of water gushed out of Arthur's mouth and right onto Merlin's shredded shirt.

Merlin felt Arthur's hands grip him sightly as his coughing eased away and slowly became a steady rhythm. His ear was right up against the prince's chest as he cradled Merlin in his arms tightly as if he was never going to let go of Merlin again.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Merlin listened to Arthur's heartbeat as it thumped away beneath his ribcage. Every beat was a reassuring note that he would never leave Arthur again, no matter what the situation.

As his own breathing began to steady, Merlin didn't allow his eyes to close as Morgana walked away to where Quentin once laid. He was no longer there, there was no doubt in Merlin's mind that he had run away scared. But that didn't matter, tonight he wasn't going to let go of Arthur no matter what.

As Morgana collected pieces of wood to light a fire, both of them looked up into the starry sky never speaking a word. Tomorrow they would travel back to Camelot. Until then, though, both of them kept the other close until morning came.

_To be continued..._

**_See the little green bar below? Press it, you'll be glad you did ;)_**


	13. Truth and Denial

**A/N: **_I love you guys, seriously I do. To show this I give hugs to all! *hugs all who dare come close* Thank you for all the lovely reviews, I'm afraid that there's only about three chapters left. Now, I'm just giving a pre-warning here, the next chapter will most likely be smut... So the rating from now on will be bumped up to M, what do you guys think? Anyway, here's the next chapter! Enjoy, and please review. I hate exams tomorrow, so who knows when I'll update next... *panic face*_

* * *

Sometime during the night the boys had fallen asleep in each other's arms. Morgana had made sure she kept herself wide awake to ensure no wild animals tried to attack them, thankfully they were left alone.

But it was morning now, which meant it was time to travel back to Camelot. Although it didn't seem like a good idea to walk straight back into Uther's grasp, but no matter what they did or tried there was really no escape for Merlin. By now the guards were most likely searching throughout the entire kingdom for all three of them, and until they returned, the king wouldn't stop until they were found.

The horses were still tied up against the trees from last night when they reached the forests edge. Morgana had hopped onto her own horse, while Merlin and Arthur jumped onto the other. Merlin's hands were placed securely around the prince's waist as they voyaged back towards Camelot.

Now that the two of them seemed to be back together, Morgana couldn't help but feel happy herself knowing that Arthur and Merlin would do anything for each other. As much as she wanted to talk to them saying everything would be alright from here on, she knew that the moment they returned to Camelot they would all be detained.

It was a risk they had to take. If Uther were to kill Merlin then Arthur would surely die along with him. Last night Morgana had witnessed something she never believed was even possible, that two people could be connected. It had proven to be both a curse and a blessing in aiding them to find Merlin, but also they might even be able to use it to their advantage.

But that was still ahead of them. Right now the best thing for them to do was to find their way through the forest, which seemed almost impossible because everything looked so much different now that the sun was shining through the leaves above.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Morgana asked Arthur trying to figure out which direction was which.

"Of course I do..." he answered unreassuringly.

"Do not," Merlin spoke up with a hint of laughter.

"Do too!" Arthur replied back childishly.

"Do not."

"Fine, I have no idea where I'm going," Arthur admitted turning his head around to face Merlin. "You seriously do have an overly large mouth."

A smile widened on Merlin's face as he leant over Arthur's shoulder and pressed a kiss on the corner of his mouth.

"You would know," Merlin chuckled resting his head on the prince's shoulder.

"You two are so cute," Morgana said unable to contain herself any longer.

"Are not!" they both said in unison causing them to blush like mad.

"Keep telling yourself that." Morgana rolled her eyes as she looked away, paying careful attention to her surroundings. The forest seem to be become less dense which was a good sign.

Almost as if by some sort of miracle, they finally reached the outskirts of the forest to see the city of Camelot towering above in the distance. Both Merlin and Arthur were looking at her strangely, no doubt wondering how the hell she'd managed to find the way back.

"Woman's intuition," was her comment as they directed their horses towards the city gates.

"I don't get it," Merlin said sounding somewhere between scared and confused.

"You don't get a lot of things," Arthur chuckled glancing upwards. One of the guards on towers noticed them and immediately disappeared most likely to inform the king of their arrival.

"You told me to get away because Uther was going to kill me, so why are we coming back here?" Merlin said gripping onto Arthur tighter.

Morgana examined the expression on Arthur's face. It was full of rage almost as if he had something planned for the king.

"Trust me, I'm not going to let anything happen to you," Arthur soothed as he slowed down the horse. Coming towards them were at least four knights that blocked their path.

"The king requests your presence at once," one of the knights stepped forward, his sword clutched tightly within his hand taunting them until he pointed it towards Merlin. "The boy is to come with us."

"Over my dead body," Arthur growled as he reached down for his own sword. Luckily they had been able to find it after Quentin had taken it last night.

"Merlin is not going anywhere with you," Morgana spoke up hopping off her horse until she was face to face with the knight. "If the king has a problem with that, then he can come down and see us personally. And if you have a problem with that, maybe you'll change your mind after I remove one of your favourite appendages."

Morgana smiled innocently as she gave a deadly stare at the same time. Her reputation always did come in handy in these sorts of situations, as the knight was now backing away with his head lowered.

"Follow me," he spoke quietly.

Hopping back onto her horse, Arthur mouthed Morgana a silent 'thank you' as they were lead towards the entrance of the castle. Right in the middle of the town square laid a wooden platform, hanging down from a large piece of timber was a hangman's noose.

"It's okay, I'm not going to let him touch one damn finger on you," Arthur said reassuringly to Merlin who was staring wide eyed at the noose. Morgana couldn't blame him either being afraid either. No one deserved a fate that cruel no matter what the circumstances were.

Demounting their horses, they were escorted up the castle steps by the knight. Morgana only hoped that Arthur knew what he was doing.

*

Arthur gripped Merlin's hand tightly in his own as they entered the main doors of the castle. No longer did the prince care about showing his affection to his servant in public anymore. If anyone even remotely had a problem with it, then they could deal with it. That also meant his father.

The only reason Arthur wanted to come back to Camelot in the first place was to confront his father about him and Merlin. Why? Because there was nothing the king could do to hurt either of them, and if he did then technically he was hurting both of them. Uther wouldn't want to kill his son, no matter what the situation. This meant Arthur could use the kings' weakness to his advantage if it came to it. Though it was probably best to not mention it for the time being.

Taking a final turn down one of the corridors, the three of them found themselves directly in front of the main chamber door. The knight quickly entered the door, closing it quickly behind him.

There was a distinct sound of chatter within the chamber followed by a loud smash. Before they knew what was going on, the knight opened the door looking quite pale.

"The King is ready to see you now," he said before walking away rather quickly.

Arthur took a deep breath and turned towards Merlin, looking straight into his blue eyes that seemed to calm him down.

"Ready?"

"What would happen if I said no?" Merlin said trying to smile.

"Keep close to Morgana, I'll do the talking," Arthur said placing a light kiss on Merlin's forehead.

Without hesitation, Arthur pushed the chamber doors opened and stormed in. Uther was standing on the other side of the room looking relived to see his son well, but the moment he caught glimpse of Merlin he began pacing towards him.

Arthur stepped in the middle of his father's path, placing his hand out in Uther's chest preventing him from getting any closer.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Uther snarled shooting an icy glare at Merlin.

"_He_ happens to be here because _I _want him to be," Arthur said back equalling his father's voice.

"Obviously I didn't make it clear enough last time. I thought I told you to have no contact with Merlin. All that you've done is brought him to his death. Guards, seize him," the two guards standing at the side of the room walked forward to arrest Merlin, but Morgana pulled out her sword placing the blade tentatively against one of the guard's throats.

"You're not laying one finger on him," Arthur whispered coldly into his father's ear.

"Just look at yourself Arthur, you've changed, ever since that servant came into your life," Uther said taking a step back from Arthur.

"No father, you're the one that has changed. Not for one moment did you think how much Merlin means to me!" Arthur knew he was getting the louder, but his anger had finally reached its limit. "Well I'm _so_ sorry that I'm not the perfect son that you always hoped for me to be, and I'm _so_ sorry that you are such a miserable man. Just because mother died and made you unhappy, that doesn't mean I wish to turn out the same! I love Merlin with all my heart, and there's nothing you can do that will change that."

Arthur panted heavily as he watched his father stare at him in shock. Hopefully the message that got through was loud and clear. If not, then Arthur would gladly tell him all over again.

"You... love him?" Uther looked like he was about to throw up.

"Oh? I'm sorry, wasn't that clear enough for you? If not then that's too bad, if you have a problem with that when I'll gladly get out of your sight." Arthur looked back at both Merlin giving him a reassuring smile.

"You will not speak to me like that. Obviously this is some sort of prank, why would you ever love _that_?" Uther directed at Merlin nastily.

"He's special, that's why. Is that a problem?" Arthur replied as he crossed his arms.

"This game is over Arthur, stop fooling around."

It didn't seem to matter what he said, Uther wasn't going to believe him until Arthur showed him proof. Arthur walked away from Uther directly towards Merlin. Looking his father directly in the eyes the prince pressed his lips against Merlin's, eagerly sucking his lower lip while placing his hands around the servant's waist.

Out of the corner of Arthur's eye, he saw his father's mouth drop in horror as he continued kissing Merlin passionately until his lips parted, permitting Arthur's tongue entrance to Merlin's hot mouth. They continued to kiss until Arthur felt it was long enough. Slowly pulling away he turned directly towards his father.

"There, does _that_ make things perfectly clear?" Arthur asked showing no sign of emotion towards his father.

"But... I..." Uther stammered looking quite pale as he collapsed into one of the chairs.

"Good," Arthur cut in before Uther could say anything else. "I'm glad that's sorted out then. I'll be in my quarters if you need me."

With that final note, Arthur left the room with Merlin placing his arm around the servants waist. If his father had any doubts before, he sure as hell wouldn't have any now.

*

The King stared out into nothingness as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. His son was romantically involved with a simple manservant, how in the world didn't he see it before? Arthur had shown some interest in woman before, so what had changed? Right now all that Uther could think about, though, was having a drink of the strongest wine in the kingdom.

Just as he staggered to get up and pour himself a drink, he realised that Morgana was still in his chambers.

"Get out," Uther commanded directing her towards the door.

"I see you have finally come to the realisation that Arthur's in love," Morgana pointed out blankly.

"He is _not_ in love," Uther denied, trying to shake out the image of seeing his son kiss another man and not a woman.

"Oh please, stop fooling yourself," she groaned leaning against a chair.

"Arthur's ill, that's all," he found himself saying. Even Uther had to admit that was an extremely poor excuse.

Morgana sighed and pulled up a chair directly in front of him just as Uther began pouring himself a glass of red wine into a goblet.

Brining the goblet to his lips, Uther drained the wine in one gulp. For a moment his sight went all black from drinking the blood red liquid too fast, but eventually his vision cleared up only to be replaced by the unimpressed figure of Morgana who was still sitting in front of him.

"How long are you going to play this little masquerade? You saw what Arthur did, just admit it and move on."

"I don't _want_ to admit it though," Uther said dryly. He could really do with a glass of water right about now.

"Well sooner or later you're going to have to face it, Arthur loves Merlin more than anything," Morgana got up and leaned forward so her mouth was directly against his ear. She spoke in a low whisper, "And if you try and take him away from Arthur, I will hunt you down and kill you myself. Is that understood?"

Uther nodded warily because he knew that she was capable of such a thing, especially when it concerned her friends.

"Good," she said sounding quite pleased with herself. "Now, if you don't mind I'm going to return to my own quarters."

Morgana spun around dramatically on the spot and left the room without saying another word. Now the only people in the room were himself and the two guards that stood silently against the side wall.

Pouring himself another drink Uther tried to decide what to do with his son. Perhaps he should have the boy Merlin killed? But then he would have Morgana to deal with and most likely Gaius along with her. _That_ was a combination he didn't need, and with Arthur to add to that combination... Uther swallowed down the second goblet of red wine trying to forget about the whole ordeal. Things just seemed to be getting better and better with each passing minute.

Uther wanted nothing more than his son to be happy, but why couldn't it be with a woman? Surely Arthur must understand that when he died, the family name must be carried on by producing an heir. That happened to be something that a man could not provide.

There was a knocking on the large wooden door which snapped Uther out of his thoughts. Rubbing his forehead with his fingers, Uther called out giving permission to whoever it was to enter.

"Excuse me sire for intruding," Gaius said as he entered the chamber.

"What is it you want?" Uther groaned, he really shouldn't have drunk that wine so quickly. Right now he had the most aweful headache not to mention he was beginning to see bright lucid colours dance as he stared out the window.

"Sire, please don't kill Merlin, he's never meant anybody any harm. If you wish to kill anyone take my life instead. I understand that he, Arthur and the lady Morgan returned not long ago," Gaius babbled. Obviously he believed that he was still going to kill the servant, but to be honest, not even Uther knew what to do about Merlin anymore.

"Gaius, can you please be quiet for one second," Uther complained as he tried to ignore the sound of blood pounding away in his ears.

"I'll fight you if I have too," Gaius said completely ignoring what the king had just said.

"Gaius!" Uther snapped. "I don't intend on killing the boy... yet."

"Well at least that's a start," Gaius admitted sounding quite relieved, as he exhaled a large quantity of air before sitting down on the chair Morgana had previously occupied.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you when you told me Arthur was in love with Merlin..." Uther mumbled under his breath before letting out a painful dry cough.

Gaius grabbed the water pint of the table and filled his goblet up with water. Uther didn't waste any time sculling the water down.

"Well I hate to say I told you..."

Uther cut him off by furrowing his eyebrows at his court physician.

"Don't."

"I wouldn't dare of it sire," Gaius said.

"How come I never saw it beforehand?" Uther question still trying to take in that his son was in a romantic relationship with Merlin.

"Perhaps you saw only what you wanted to see. It took me a while to figure it out myself, but when I did I never brought it up. They're young Uther; they still have a lifetime to live. Give them a chance to work things out by themselves, for all we know it could just be a phase, I doubt it highly."

Uther knew Gaius was making a great deal of sense, which caused him to see all the tiny details he'd missed ever since Merlin arrived.

"We'll see..." he replied through gritted teeth.

With a combination of lack of balance and sense, Uther stood up and attempted to make his way to the door in a straight line. Unfortunately he didn't quite make it and tripped over his own feet, Gaius had to help him up off the ground. He seriously needed something _a lot_ stronger to drink to take his mind of everything for the time being.

_To be continued..._


	14. Drunken Pleasures

**A/N: **_Hey guys, now this is a **warning** right here and right now, this chapter... somehow... managed to get really smutty. So I've had to bump up the rating of this story from T to M. But to be honest, that rating really only applys for this chapter, but I changed it just to be on the safe side of things. But besides from that, here is the next chapter! Now, you don't technically have to read this, as basically 3/4 of this is smut, so if you don't wish to read it just skip down about that much. Also I feel as if I should point out that I have never, ever written anything remotely like this in my entire life. So tell me how I went, please! I'm currently feeling a bit better from my first lot of exams today, but I have more tomorrow... Eek! Anyway, thank you guys for the amazing reviews and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please, please review!_

* * *

Merlin found it hard for a while to get use to such familiar surroundings. After being in the forest from what felt like forever he was having a hard time trying to take in everything.

It was weird in some aspects, because it made him feel like an outsider again getting use to a new city. But what was even weirder was that Arthur had kissed him right in front of Uther! It was something that the servant never expected. He had been completely taken by surprise, but went along with it nevertheless.

The moment Merlin walked into the prince's chambers he found his nostrils filling up with the pure memorable essence of what was Arthur.

He only got to examine the room for a moment, though, as Arthur yanked at Merlin's shirt and pulled him close fiercely as their lips collided in a tangled manner.

"I hate him," Arthur said halfway through the kiss.

"Who?" Merlin replied somewhat stunned by the prince's actions.

"My father, who else," he groaned only to cause Merlin to mouth a silent, 'oh' before Arthur muttered directing them towards the bed.

Merlin found himself unable to speak as he was lowered onto the bed by Arthur, who was completely dominating the fantasy Merlin had waited for ever since he fell in love with those hypnotic blue eyes.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Arthur grunted reaching down to grasp the bottom of Merlin's shirt giving it a slight tug.

Unable to find the right words, Merlin instead wrapped his hands around the prince's broad shoulders, drawing him closer until their chests were pressed flush up against one another. Merlin could practically feel Arthur's heart pounding away erratically against his ribcages.

"And you say I'm the idiot," Merlin groaned as the friction inside his pants was getting to the point where it was too much to bare.

"Oh shut up and get undressed now," Arthur commanded as he fumbled to get Merlin's shirt off him as fast as possible.

Once the piece of material was thrown away onto the floor, Merlin found himself becoming self conscious as his upper half was fully exposed. He never really did like his bony features as they stuck out on awkward angles, although Arthur didn't seem to care one bit. As soon as his shirt had been removed, Arthur was already climbing down his body to eliminate his pants out of the equation.

Arthur groaned in frustration at how long it was taking him to remove one simple pair of pants, and Merlin took pleasure watching him try. Eventually, though, the only thing Merlin had left between his hardening erection and Arthur was his underwear which Arthur disposed of quickly.

"Well what do we have here?" Arthur said surprised as he grabbed Merlin's hardened member and began stroking the slit with his thumb.

"Oh god," Merlin gasped as his hips bucked up almost by instinct, as Arthur continued rubbing the head of his of member. At the same time Merlin began running his fingers increasingly through the blondes damp hair as he heard Arthur moan.

Never in his entire life did Merlin expect this to be happening, he half expected to wake up from the dream any moment now, but a nibble of his neck from Arthur reassured him that this was _not_ a dream.

"Get naked, _now _you prat," Merlin demanded as he realised Arthur was still fully clothed. At this rate Merlin wasn't going to last another minute if Arthur didn't stop torturing his swelling member with his thumb.

"So feisty when you're exposed," Arthur growled before rolling his eyes as he removed his hand from Merlin's member. With Merlin pinned between his two strong thighs, the prince lifted his shirt above his head and threw it into the pile of clothes on the floor across the room.

If Merlin had been breathing right about now, he would have stopped as he examined Arthur's toned and sufficiently bronzed upper body hovering above him. The very top of his tanned chest was flushed with arousal, his tight muscles flexed with every movement as Arthur kicked off his pants with ease.

As if by some gravitational pull, Merlin found his hand drifting down into Arthur's underwear until he found what he was looking for. Giving Arthur's member a heavy tug, the prince moaned in delight above him almost collapsing on top of him under the pleasure.

"Oh god..." was what Merlin suspected Arthur said as he moved down to nip gently at the skin between his throat and collar bone.

"You like that?" Merlin experimentally tugged again on Arthur's member but even hard this time, causing him to whimper for more. Before continuing any further, Arthur lifted his hips slightly allowing Merlin to slide his underwear off with ease.

Now they were both completely naked, which was something Merlin had never done before in his lifetime. Not once had he done anything _this_ intimate with someone else, it was a frightening thought because Merlin was starting to wonder what the hell he should do next.

"Don't think too much about it," Arthur soothed as he traced his fingers down Merlin's bony chest until reaching his nipple. With one quick movement, Arthur grabbed the rosy piece of flesh between his thumb and index finger and twisted until Merlin was arching up between Arthur's thighs.

"Have you done this before?" Merlin gasped as the sudden friction that Arthur had caused on his nipple was replaced by his moist mouth. With his entire mouth enclosed over the rosy flesh, Merlin couldn't help but groan when he felt a tongue flicker across it that sent a rippling wave of pleasure straight down to his crotch.

"No," he replied as he continued to work thoroughly on Merlin's other nipple, before long both of them were rock-hard. "I've never done this before."

"You're kidding!" Merlin exclaimed as he wriggled down further under Arthur until he looking straight at the prince's chapped lips.

"Would I lie to you, Merlin?" he asked fluttering his eyelids very un-prince like.

"Yes," Merlin replied before pressing his lips desperately and sloppily into Arthur. Their tongues met in a wet embrace as they fought over dominance.

"I'm only doing what feels right," Arthur admitted as he palmed Merlin's balls with his free hand.

"Oh!" Merlin panted with bliss as the prince began squeezing his sack lightly in his hand. "More."

Before Merlin could say another word, Arthur spread his legs apart as he placed one of his digits up to Merlin's mouth. Knowing what was about to happen, he didn't waste any time sucking eagerly on the prince's fingers until he deemed it lubricated well enough for use.

"Are you sure you want this?" Arthur asked only to receive an eager nod from Merlin who laid his head back on the prince's pillow.

Merlin's member twitched enthusiastically as Arthur circled one of his fingers around the rim of before gently pushing into the opening. There was a twinge of pain the moment Arthur's finger made it past the muscle, but after a few seconds he found himself adjusting to the new sensation. It felt strange, but as soon as Arthur began sliding his finger in and out slowly, Merlin found himself gasping for air as the prince hit a spot that caused him to moan loudly.

"Okay... that was weird..." Arthur said taking his finger out rather quickly suddenly making Merlin feel as if he'd done something wrong.

"What?" Merlin asked wishing he would get his fingers back in their _now_.

"I felt that..." Arthur said sounding surprised.

"Is that a good thing or bad thing?" Merlin groaned wishing Arthur would stop babbling on and get back to work.

"Good. It just felt strange, that's all," Arthur replied with a shrug and inserted two digits that almost caused Merlin to choke without having any pre-warning.

Just as he began getting to the idea of two fingers scissoring his opening up, Arthur inserted a third finger. The stretch was unbelievable. Until today Merlin never even knew pleasure like this existed, and now that he did, he defiantly had been missing out.

"I don't know how much longer I can last," Merlin said trying to prevent himself from releasing the storm that was brewing deep inside.

"Well last longer," Arthur grunted as he spat a large collection of salvia onto his hand, and began vigorously coating his member with it.

Making sure he was comfortable, Merlin spread his legs for Arthur even further giving the prince a reasonable amount of room to move.

"Just tell me when to stop if it hurts too much," Arthur said as he slowly introduced his throbbing erection into the tightness of Merlin's hole.

The instant Arthur introduced his member into the equation, Merlin felt his own erection heat up and constrict upon itself. At the same time, he was unaware that Arthur was feeling an insane satisfaction as it felt like someone was inserting their member into his arse.

"Oh fuck!" Merlin gasped as Arthur hit that spot that send a wave of bliss straight to Merlin's erection.

It was the strangest sensation, was he feeling what Arthur was feeling? If so, then how in the word was he coping so well? It felt so tight...

"Argh," Arthur moaned as he adjusted to Merlin.

"Move," Merlin pleaded.

Before Merlin knew what was going on, he couldn't tell if he was coming or going as stars seemed to burst from behind his eyelids as his orgasm hit.

Panting and trying to get his breath back, Merlin closed his eyes as Arthur removed his sweaty body from above him and laid himself next to Merlin.

A lump formed itself inside the young sorcerer's throat as he tried to comprehend what had just happened.

"You do realise I love you... right?" Arthur asked stupidly.

"How could I not?" he replied find a smug grin forming across his face.

Still completely naked, Merlin grabbed a piece of cloth from one of Arthur's draws and wiped both of them down.

The sound of the door creaking open got both of their attention quickly as the stature of Uther side-stepped into the room rather clumsily. In his hand was a half full bottle of red wine, which Merlin suspected he had drunk himself. But right at this very instant, Merlin had other things on his mind. Where the hell were his clothes!? As Uther went to close the door, Merlin grabbed his pants and slipped them on as fast as he could, but not fast enough. The moment Uther turned around and realised that his son was still completely naked and Merlin was half naked, obviously he put the pieces together. With a deafening smash, the bottle slipped out of Uther's hand and onto the floor.

"What are you doing?!" Uther gasped causing Merlin to back slowly towards the stone wall of the chamber.

"Don't you know how to knock!?" Arthur replied grabbing the nearest object to cover his royal jewels with; a large silver tray.

Visibly intoxicated Uther took a step forwards towards his son – well actually it was more like a stumble but either way it was still a step.

"You disgust me," Uther sneered staring at Arthur and then to Merlin, who was now fully dressed and looking for an escape route.

"Get out," Arthur said pointing to the door with one finger.

"Oh, I don't think so," Uther replied as he pulled out the sword from his waist.

"What are you doing?" Arthur asked taking a step back. Merlin, though, was staring wide eyed at the sword in Uther's hand as it pointed away from Arthur and towards him instead.

"You," he grunted before staggering towards him. The sword looked brightly polished... not to mention extremely sharp.

"Arthur..." Merlin cried for help finding himself cornered in the room.

Only meters away from him and the sword raised above his head, Arthur rushed forward and snatched the sword out of Uther's hands knocking to the ground.

"Leave. Now!" Arthur yelled at his father who struggled to get off the ground.

"I will _not_ allow you to do this Arthur. And you," Uther was now standing up and right in Merlin's face, "whatever you've done to my son I want you to fix it right now!"

"I... I haven't done anything," Merlin squeaked trying to looking anywhere but Uther's face.

"Don't lie to me," the King scowled before getting right up against Merlin's ear and whispering silently so Arthur couldn't hear, "I don't care if Arthur really loves you or not, it ends now. And if you don't end it, _I_ will for you."

Merlin couldn't move as Uther pulled away, all that he could think about was the King's threat. If he hadn't been such an idiot, perhaps he might have obeyed Uther and did what he commanded. But this was Merlin, and right now he didn't care what Uther told him he wasn't just about to give up the most important person. Arthur was his life, his destiny.

"No," Merlin replied as Uther staggered away towards the door passing Arthur. The moment Merlin refused the King's threat, he realised what a grave mistake he made. Uther spun around, almost falling over as he glared at Merlin with revulsion before curving his lips upward.

"Merlin, don't," Arthur said trying to hold his father back from doing anything to Merlin.

"Shut up!" Uther boomed, "What did you say?"

"I said no..." Merlin bit his bottom lip as Arthur shook his head.

"That was a big mistake, you should have taken my offer," Uther snarled. For someone that was exceedingly drunk, Merlin couldn't believe his eyes when the King snatched the sword out of Arthur's hand in a blink of an eye.

The next thing Merlin knew the sword had left Uther's hand and was now flying through the air towards him. There was a distinct look of horror on Arthur's face before Merlin closed his eyes allowing his life to flash before them. Arthur, Gaius, his mother, all those people who meant everything to him would now be gone in a matter of moments. Any second now. Right... now!

Merlin didn't understand what had gone wrong. The sword should have hit him by now, there was no doubt about it. Perhaps Uther missed? No, he hadn't heard a clatter of metal hitting the ground, so what the hell happened to it?

Cracking the corner of his left eye open, Merlin saw the sword hovering in midair inches away from his face. Looking over towards Uther and Arthur, he noticed the King was gaping at the sword and was now backing away from him towards the door.

"Ma-magic," Uther stuttered terrified before bolting out of the room, the crunching sound of glass as he stepped on the shattered glass on the floor. The moment the door closed, the sword dropped to the ground.

Arthur didn't utter a single word as his father left the room. Instead he raised an eyebrow at Merlin before walking over and giving him a quick hug.

"You scared me to death! What the hell were you thinking? You need to be careful with your magic, Merlin," Arthur comforted before letting him go.

"But..." Merlin tried to say but Arthur cut him off by placing a finger across his lips.

"Seriously, though, if my father remembers tomorrow morning what you just did, then I dread to think what might happen to you," Arthur smiled sweetly before rolling his eyes. "But the chances of that happening are slim to none, after he's had more than two glasses of wine he almost can never remember anything that happens within the next day."

"Will you listen to me!" Merlin shouted unintentionally trying to get Arthur's full attention, completely ignoring the fact that Arthur was still completely naked now that he had placed the metal tray on his bed. "Arthur, you don't understand. What just happened, I had nothing to do with it."

Arthur tilted his head slightly to the side with a puzzled expression hanging off his face. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is I didn't use any magic, Arthur. I had no time."

Standing silently, Merlin waited for Arthur to respond, which eventually he did with an uneasy tone.

"Then... if you didn't do it... who did?"

"I don't know," Merlin replied truthfully before helping the prince slip back into his clothes so he wouldn't catch a cold. Deep within his own thoughts, Merlin came up with theories to what had just happened... none of them were very reassuring.

_To be continued..._


	15. Fire and Ice

**A/N: **_Sorry for not updating sooner, but I just finished exams yesterday! Which as you might be able to tell I'm very happy about, so to celeberate my awesome achievements, I wrote this chapter as quick as I could. Thanks guys for the reviews on the last chapter, I was sort of nervous about what you may think... but my nervousness seems to be for nothing. The only reason I wrote that chapter was because I felt it was time Merlin and Arthur allowed there relationship to become more serious. Anyway, here's the third last chapter (That's right, there's only two left after this. I know... I'm sad too) so please review guys! I'll try and update either tomorrow or the day after. Enjoy!_

* * *

Allowing his manservant to take the rest of the day off, Arthur roamed the castle in search of something, anything to do. It was also a good way to take his mind off what had recently happened in his chambers no more than a few hours ago.

He realised that his father was drunk, -and probably still was at this current moment of time- but something nagged at Arthur as he found himself standing on top of a balcony that allowed him to view the entire city.

As Uther had gone to throw the sword, Arthur's heart had stopped as he feared the worst. But that fear didn't come true, it didn't even _remotely_ come true. Instead the sword had stopped as if it had been frozen in the air.

At first Arthur felt angry that Merlin had used magic, especially in front of his father, but at that current moment of time all he honestly cared about was that his lover was alright. But then when Merlin said he didn't use any magic, it worried him deeply.

The only other people in the room were himself and his father, and neither of them had any sort of magical powers. Either way, though, Merlin was safe now, and with any luck Uther wouldn't remember a thing by tomorrow morning.

Observing from above, Arthur watched as the people of the city rushed to grab supplies for the Winter Festival that was held once every year. It was an annual event that Arthur had grown accustom to over the years, but to be honest it was just another excuse for his father to ramble on his achievements whilst being king.

But the main event of the evening was not Uther's speech – mostly because they went on for half the night Arthur would often drink himself until the point of unconsciousness – but in fact the Annual Ball that accompanied it.

Being the prince, he was expected every year to dance, but with who was up to him entirely. Of course, this year Arthur wanted Merlin to be that person to dance with, but the way things were going the chances were looking worse by the second.

There of course were other reasons why he was nervous about asking Merlin to the ball. One, because his father. Two, what would the people think of him if they saw him dancing with his manservant? Three, well... he hadn't really gotten to three yet, but he was bound to think of something eventually.

Inhaling the cool air one last time, Arthur turned around and made his way to dinner. He couldn't remember the last time he ate, well, he could but it felt like he hadn't eaten anything in days.

As Arthur walked through the castle corridors, he found his thoughts directed towards father. What if he did remember the floating sword? What would he do to Merlin? These thoughts, however, were interrupted by Gwen who spotted him from down the corridor and immediately came rushing forward towards him, landing into his arms with a great _thud_.

"Thank you for saving Merlin," the maid said quickly releasing her grasp from the prince.

"Ah... It was nothing really," Arthur replied trying to sound somewhat modest, not knowing how to respond to the girls' comment. Gwen gave a sweet smile at the prince before bowing slightly.

"Morgana told me everything, well not everything as such, but enough to know that you did the right thing Arthur," Gwen said placing a hand on the prince's shoulder. "You're going to be a great King one day. Don't even change."

"Thanks..." he replied still unable to think of a way to respond.

With that somewhat happy note left in his mind, Gwen skipped away with a cheerful expression printed on her face to attend to her duties. She probably had heaps of odd jobs to do around the castle to prepare it for the Winter Festival tomorrow night.

Picking up the pace, Arthur headed straight towards dining room before the torches of the castle were lit up, walking past a window that showed the front of the castle. Already snow was beginning to blanket the courtyard and fill the castle with a chilly breeze that shook Arthur to the bone, it reminded him of nearly drowning in water. Needless to say he really wasn't looking forward to the snowfall that was on its way, mostly because snow was basically just frozen water.

Pushing open the dining room doors, he found the room empty except for a small collection of meat and vegetables on a small platter where he normally sat. Taking his place at the table alone, Arthur began eating the assortment of food as quickly as he could just in case his father decided to walk in on a drunken frenzy.

Shoving the last piece of ham into his mouth, Arthur walked out of the room and decided to pay a visit to Merlin and Gaius. Hopefully the court physician was attending to his manservant and making sure none of his wounds were infected, and anyway, Arthur would have to go sooner or later himself to get his wounds looked at. At least the bleeding had stopped since they got back, which meant he wasn't going to bleed to death anymore.

Just as he made it to the door of the court physicians, Arthur heard faint whispers through the piece of wood. Instead of knocking, however, Arthur pressed his ear up against the piece of wood.

"I don't believe it, that's impossible Merlin," a muffled voice said which Arthur believe to be Gaius. "That is the most ridiculous and idiotic theory I have ever heard."

"But there's no other explanation!" the boy replied sounding quite irritated. Arthur could just picture Merlin's all red and flustered as he spoke.

"Merlin, there's no way Arth-," Gaius closed his mouth as the prince opened the door casually and walked in. He was right, of course, when he noticed Merlin's face, it was all flustered. Even his ears were red, but the moment Arthur walked into the room his face changed to a different shade of red that made him want to kiss his servant then and there.

"How's the patient coming along?" Arthur asked smugly examining the bandages wrapped tightly around each of Merlin's arms, covering the wounds that they'd created to send messages to each other.

"It would be coming along fine is Merlin wouldn't stop squirming and complaining," Gaius nitpicked as he applied green paste on the long wound that ran down Merlin's back. Suddenly forgetting they were connected, Arthur clenched his teeth together as he felt the burning sensation of the paste on his own back.

"Ow!" Merlin whined.

"Really?" Arthur replied sarcastically, "I would never have guessed."

Gaius tied a final knot on the bandage wrapped around Merlin's left arm and nudged him off the table.

"Sit here please," Gaius said to Arthur, directing the spot Merlin had previously occupied. Sighing he sat down, and removed his shirt which revealed all the cuts and bruises that covered his skin. The moment Arthur saw Gaius reveal the same green paste he groaned he frustration, surely he have something else that didn't sting as much as _that_ stuff.

Arthur smiled kindly to Merlin who was too embarrassed to look at him in the eyes. Though, he couldn't really blame him seeing that they had seen each other completely naked earlier that day. That thought brought an even bigger grin to Arthur's face, but was quickly replaced by a hiss of pain as he didn't realise Gaius had rubbed the green mixture onto his arm.

"Thank you for saving him," Gaius whispered silently into Arthur's ear as he wrapped a fresh bandage around his head, making a small knot at the very back.

"Believe me, if I knew how much trouble he would be I might have had second thoughts," Arthur replied with a smug grin which caused both of them to chuckle slightly.

"What's so funny?" Merlin questioned unable to hear what they were talking about. As soon as Merlin spoke both of them couldn't resist laughing again.

"Nothing," Gaius lied trying to hold a very serious face. "Arthur was just telling me about how he risked his life to save you."

An even deeper shade of red flushed upon the young sorcerer's face that caused him to turn around, Arthur had to admit Merlin looked adorable when he blushed.

"Oh..." Merlin stated blandly.

"We're only pulling your leg," Gaius said with a smile before turning to Arthur as he hopped off the table, landing solidly on his feet. "Come back tomorrow afternoon and I'll change the bandages."

"Ah!" Arthur exclaimed remembering the Winter Festival. "Merlin, I need you to come and help me get ready for the festival tomorrow. I know that it's a bit of a short notice, but I need you to clean all my clothes, polish my boots. You know; the usual."

"I could do all that now if you want sire," Merlin said looking quite eager to get back to work, but Gaius shot him a warning look.

"You, young man are going to bed right this instant. I'm sure that Arthur wouldn't mind if you got a decent night sleep, right Arthur?" Gaius said with a stern look.

"Absolutely," Arthur said nodding his head vaguely. "You are a terrible manservant as it is and an even worse one when you haven't gotten a good night sleep."

"I am..." Merlin began to complain only to be cut off by Gaius who was now pointing to Merlin's room.

"You heard what the prince said, now off to bed."

With a huff of annoyance, Merlin headed towards his room after quickly kissing Arthur on the cheek saying goodnight. Arthur smiled and watched Merlin until he closed his bedroom door.

"Now that he's gone," Gaius whispered quietly after a few seconds, "there's something I wish to discuss with you sire. Would you care to sit down?" he said pulling out two chairs.

"I really ought to be getting some sleep as well," Arthur said feeling uncomfortable by the way Gaius was looking at him.

"Please, I insist," Gaius persisted.

Giving up his sense of pride for one moment, Arthur obeyed the court physicians wish at sat down on one of the small wooden chairs.

"Merlin told me what happened today..."

"Oh..." Arthur felt a growing uneasiness in his stomach.

"I can only hope Uther won't remember what he saw," Gaius frowned.

'_So do I,'_ Arthur thought to himself.

"Merlin believes he had nothing to do with that sword hovering, but I don't see any other explanation," Gaius said frowning, it was only then that Arthur caught on that the court physician had no idea about the 'other' thing Uther saw.

"Well..." Arthur started shakily as he tried to figure out what to say. "No one else was in the room, and as far as I know Merlin is the only one who possesses magical abilities..." a smug grin formed upon Arthur's face. '_Not all of them are magic, though you would have to wonder,'_ he though.

"That's what I kept telling him, but apparently he believes _you_ caused the sword to hover," Gaius said with a quizzical look upon his face.

"That's ridiculous!" Arthur exclaimed feeling even more confused than he was to begin with. Why in the world would Merlin possibly believe he had anything to do with the sword? It was barbaric, that's what it was.

"Agreed," Gaius said curving his lips slightly up to form a satisfied smile. "Anyway, I'm sorry for keeping you here. I just wanted to discuss that with you."

"That's okay," Arthur said collecting himself off the small wooden chair. "I'd rather be here anytime than around my quarters where my father would no doubt find me."

"Yes... I heard that your father has already abused the kitchen staff today. He really should lay off the wine, especially with the festival only one day away."

"To be honest, I hope he drinks himself to death," Arthur mumbled under his breath.

"Arthur, you shouldn't talk about your father like that," Gaius said obviously stunned by his comment. It was the truth, though, after everything that had happened, it didn't matter how much he tried to convince Uther about his love for Merlin he didn't wish to believe it.

"Why shouldn't I? So far all he has tried to do is take away the people who mean the most to me." A growing anger built inside of him, it wasn't fair, life wasn't fair and he sure as hell knew his father wasn't fair.

"I can understand your frustrations, but you have no idea how much you sound like your father right now," Gaius stated finally getting up from his own wooden chair so that Arthur no longer had to strain his neck to look down.

"How could you possibly understand?" Arthur didn't mean to sound harsh, in fact he was trying his best not too but unfortunately it just wasn't working the way he planned.

"You're right sire. I shouldn't have spoken out of line. I promise not to do it again," Gaius gave a slight bow.

"I didn't mean it like that..." Arthur apologized feeling really bad about the way he'd acted.

Gaius smiled a knowingly smile before saying, "Go on, get some rest. It's going to be a rather long day tomorrow, so you could do with all the sleep you can get."

Saying goodbye, Arthur turned around and left the court physician's quarters, closing the small wooden door behind him.

*

"Oh drat," Morgana complained as she examined her left hand, "I broke a nail."

There was a faint sound of laughter from somewhere behind her, quickly turning around she noticed Gwen in the middle of the doorway holding three new dresses.

"It's not funny!" Morgana protested as Gwen's grin grew even wider. "This is a very serious and delicate matter."

"I'm sure your nail won't mind being separated from your body," Gwen closed the door behind her with her foot and strode towards the bed, laying each of the three dresses careful upon it.

"Perhaps," Morgana stated rather sourly, it was just plain typical that her nail broke one day before one of the most important events of the year.

Usually she found herself more excited over the Winter Festival, but after this week's events, she was less than thrilled. But as she was expected to make an appearance, Morgana found it best to at least try look absolutely beautiful. Of course, if she didn't put in the effort, then no one would be able to tell her how stunning she was.

Picking up the first dress, Morgana walked to the mirror and allowed the material to sway in narrow moonbeam that shot through the window as he placed it in front of her. The dress was made out of a deep red silk, you could almost feel the heat radiating off the dress as it glowed gently against the small lit candle next to the mirror.

Gwen waited patiently against her bed as she held up the other two dresses. One was a light shade of purple with emerald buttons whilst the other one was vomit colour which Morgana instantly ignored. The dress reminded her too much of the time she had a bit too much to drink and ended up sleeping in her own puke... luckily Arthur was the only one to witness this.

"I'll take the red one," Morgana decided after a few seconds. It surely would stand out nicely in the bright white snow that had now begun to fall from the heavens and upon Camelot. Usually the snow didn't come until a few more weeks, which was why everyone was in such a hurry to get the Winter Festival ready for tomorrow. Well... everyone except Uther, apparently he was still stumbling around the castle drowning himself in his sorrows.

Morgana honestly didn't care what happened to Uther, the world would be better without him. Maybe then those who possess magic would be allowed to roam free without the need to hide, much like herself. At least she now had someone to confide in if she even needed. Since witnessing Merlin control that water, she wondered what other secrets the young sorcerer might be hiding. Though, no secret could possibly top the secret of practicing magic.

Walking behind the screen, Morgana stripped herself of all her clothes and tried on the red dress. Once she had managed to squirm her way into the fabric, she revealed herself from behind the screen and presented herself to Gwen.

"Well," Morgana said, dramatically turning around on the spot as the bottom of the dress lifted slightly off the floor and into the air. "How do I look?"

"You'll be the star of the ball," Gwen replied as she looking thoroughly impressed at the red material.

"But I always am," Morgana chuckled slightly as she disappeared once again behind the screen to remove the dress and slipped into her nightgown.

"Truer words have never been spoken," Gwen smiled as she picked up the two unwanted dresses. "Is there anything else you need tonight?"

"No thank you," Morgana commented as she walked out from behind the screen and placed the red dress on the pile. "Maybe a goodnight kiss, perhaps?"

Gwen smiled and helped Morgana into her bed, placing the warm blanket over the top of her. Pressing her lips gently on her head, Gwen blew out the dancing flame of the candle and left the room.

Yawning loudly, she buried her head into the pillow, allowing her eyes to close as she began to dream.

*

_Screaming. Everyone was screaming and running in the main hall as Morgana made her way to the edge of the room. She had no idea what was going on, she couldn't even think straight as the piercing shrieks filled her ears._

_Looking down she noticed her brand new red dress was torn up the side revealing a shallow scratch mark that traced along her left side. With her back pressed up against the wall, Morgana scanned the room to see what all the commotion was about. She got the answer she was looking for as she spotted Merlin and Arthur standing in front of Uther, there were at least two dozen swords glistening in the air above him all pointing downwards upon Uther. Each blade appeared to be pressed into his skin, almost to the point where it was drawing blood._

_Everyone now had their backs against the walls to get out of the way, or had run out of the room in terror. Even a few of the guards seemed to run out of the room in fear as they were defenceless, it was then that Morgana realised the swords in the air belonged to the guards._

"_What are you doing?" Uther cringed as the swords seemed to push him down onto the stone floor. _

"_Something I should have done a long time ago," Arthur replied coldly as he paced around his father. _

_Morgana couldn't help but watch in terror as the events before he unfolded. Even Merlin's attempts to stop the prince seemed to be hopeless._

"_Arthur, please, think about what you're doing," Merlin pleaded trying to place a hand on the princes shoulder, only for him to fiercely brush it off._

"_I've thought about this long enough!" Arthur voice boomed throughout the entire hall that caused a shiver to run down Morgana's spine._

_Merlin took a stumble backwards as Arthur glared at him, Morgana wanted so badly to walk out there to stop this mess, but it was almost as if someone had sowed her mouth shut and nailed her feet firmly to the floor._

"_Please, Arthur... stop," Merlin whispered quietly._

"_Why?!" Arthur snapped at Merlin almost as if he was just a servant to him again. "Why should I listen to you?"_

"_Because you're breaking my heart!" Merlin cried as he exited the room rather quickly, tears flowing freely from his eyes. Then the screaming came._

*

Morgana woke up panting, dripping with sweat as she covered her eyes as a soft glow of white illuminated from behind her bedroom window. Surely it couldn't be morning already...

Shuffling out of bed as quickly as she could manage, Morgana opened the window only to be blasted by a wave of snow on an icy cold breeze. Slightly dazed, she looked outside to see the entire city outside blanketed in a thick layer of the white element.

Remembering her dream, Morgana felt a chill run throughout her body. Perhaps it was the winter breeze circulating throughout her room that made her feel giddy and slightly nervous. But then she pictured Uther on the ground as Arthur towered above his father. It was only then that Morgana began to fear what was to become of this night...

_To be continued..._


	16. When Arthur Danced

**A/N: **_Guys... I love you all, I hope you realise that. Thank you for the overload of reviews, I couldn't believe how many I got when I opened my inbox the other day. As I promised, here's the next chapter. I hope it's okay... I'm still not sure if what I'm writing works with the plot, but oh well. This is the second last chapter, and yes, I am an evil person as you will see by the end of the chapter. Also, If this chapter seems a bit fast paced I'm extremely sorry, I had a bit of trouble writing this one... As I'm sure you are all aware, I love reviews so if you're awesome and like this story, maybe you should review! =D Anyway, Enjoy this chapter. I promise to hopefully update the final one tomorrow._

* * *

Merlin made sure that he arrived bright and early, bringing with him a tray of sausages and pieces of fruit for Arthur's breakfast as he entered his chambers.

The room was almost pitch black, it took a few moments for Merlin to navigate himself across the room, yanking open the blinds to allow the soothing white light from outside to fill the room.

Now that he could see where he was going, Merlin turned around to see Arthur sleeping peacefully on his bed. Trying to resist the urge to allow the prince to continue with his beauty sleep, he rolled onto the bed beside Arthur until their faces were only inches apart.

"It's time to get up," Merlin whispered softly as he ran his fingers through the blonde's hair.

Arthur mumbled something along the lines of, "Five more minutes," into his pillow.

"Come, get up," Merlin said raising his voice a little louder only to earn him a pillow smack bang in the middle of his face. "That was uncalled for!"

A sheepish smile formed on Arthur's drowsy face, "You deserved it."

"Well in that case, you deserved this!" Grabbing the pillow, Merlin whacked Arthur across the head which immediately woke the prince right up.

Arthur looked genuinely shocked as Merlin crawled to the end of the bed knowing that the prince would seek his revenge.

"I can't believe you just did that," Arthur gaped now sitting up straight on his bed.

Merlin couldn't help poking his tongue out childishly at the prince, before he knew what was going on, Arthur had grabbed another pillow and was now repeatedly hitting him with it.

"Cheater!" Merlin yelped as he defending himself with his own pillow, occasionally taking a swing at Arthur with the soft material.

"Merlin, you know as well as anyone that I would never resort to cheating," Arthur laughed as Merlin playfully tackled him after cleverly distracting the prince by throwing the pillow at him.

"You're a terrible liar," Merlin replied only now noticing that he was on top of Arthur, pinning the prince to the bed. Unable to resist those pouty chapped lips, Merlin eased down and gently pressed their lips together. "You always cheat to get what you want."

"Innocent until proven guilty," Arthur smiled once Merlin pulled away from the kiss.

"Just wait, I'll get back when you least suspect it," he replied getting off the bed. Picking up the tray of food, Merlin placed it securely in the prince's lap as he shuffled up as far as he could go.

Merlin waited until Arthur had shoved the last piece of fruit into his mouth before collecting the empty tray from the prince's grasp.

"Now," Arthur clasped his hands together as he jumped out of bed, his hair was in a complete shambles not to mention he had a bad case of morning breath. "I need you to first help me decide what I'm going to wear tonight. Then I need you to clean the clothes to make sure they're in perfect condition. Once you've done that I need you to pick a boots and polish them until I can see myself in the reflection. After that I need you too..."

Merlin found his thoughts drifting away after that, why couldn't he just have one day where he didn't have to attend to over one hundred things at the same time.

"...help wash me in the bath," Arthur said as Merlin finally snapped back to reality the moment his ears heard something giving the prince a bath. "Did you get all that?"

"Sure did," Merlin lied rather enthusiastically. "So what do you plan on wearing tonight?"

Arthur walked over to his drawers and pulled out two almost identical doublets. The first one was the same boring red jacket with gold buttons that Merlin had seen the prince wear maybe one too many times. Although Merlin could still consider it nice, he found his gaze directed at the aqua jacket with silver buttons that Arthur held in his other hand.

Studying it for a moment, Merlin couldn't help but stare at the jacket as it went with Arthur's eyes perfectly.

"That one," Merlin said indicating the grey aqua doublet. Arthur seemed to raise an eyebrow at him, but didn't say anything. Instead he just shrugged his shoulders and placed the red doublet back in his drawers, placing the aqua jacket in Merlin's hands.

"Make sure there's not a single speck of dirt on it. Have you decided what you're wearing?" Arthur asked as he yawned loudly, stretching as he walked.

"I was under the impression I didn't have to go," Merlin rubbed his head thoroughly as he watched the prince's every movement.

"You don't _have_ to..." Arthur replied back with a soft tone. "I was just kind of hoping that you would join me for the night."

"Arthur Pendragon, are you asking me out of a date?" Merlin chuckled as he noticed Arthur's face go a flush red. He didn't mean to make the prince embarrassed, but he just couldn't help himself.

"If that's what you want to call it, then yes," Arthur looked towards the ground before looking directly at Merlin through his eyelashes.

"In that case... I'd love to come," Merlin gave the prince a reassuring smile as he walked over and gave Arthur a tight hug.

"Would you mind wearing the clothes you wore that night I invited you to dinner? I still feel bad about what happened then, and nothing would make me happier than to see you in it again."

Merlin had completely forgotten about the blue outfit that Morgana and Gwen had helped make him. Though right at this current moment of time he had no idea where the clothes might be, no doubt they were in a pile somewhere in his room scrunched up in a ball.

"Sure," Merlin said. "But first I need to do is get you ready. Now, what was that about a bath?" a wide grin spread across both of their faces which eventually turned into a light laugh.

Before long, Merlin had collected the wooden tub and was now filling it up with water that he'd heated up in the fireplace. Trying not to watch as Arthur stripped himself of his night attire, Merlin helped lower the prince into the bathtub.

Pulling up his sleeves, Merlin grabbed a small jug and submerged it into the water, allowing the liquid to fill the container. Once it was full, he lifted it above Arthur's head and tipped the jug so all its contents soaked the prince's body, allowing the warm water to trickle down his body until it reached the calm surface of the bath.

Repeating this process a few times until all the dirt and grease was removed from the princes body, Arthur stood up and stepped out of the bath. Merlin quickly passed Arthur a towel so the prince could dry himself off.

Merlin only wished he could see Arthur like this more often. The water that still clung to Arthur's body was now slowly dripping down, making his muscle stand out even more, not to mention he looked absolutely delicious with damp hair.

Pushing these thoughts aside for the moment, Merlin picked up the aqua doublet and left the room silently and began to get the princes clothes ready for tonight.

*

It was a little past midday by the time Merlin had finished cleaning the doublet. This meant removing all loose threads, sowing up tiny holes, polishing the small silver buttons that covered the front of the doublet as well making sure there were no creases in the material.

Merlin had also found a nice pair of boots that would go nicely with the doublet. It hadn't taken him that long until the pair of boots shined brightly, even Merlin was quite impressed with his work as he could now see himself clearly in the reflection.

Once everything seemed to be in order, Merlin decided to take a quick break by stopping off at the kitchens to grab a bit of food. The kitchen staff had always kind to him, it seemed that every time he visited they got all excited due to the fact no one really came down, and that only the servants would talk to them. Right now, though, each one of them was cooking at an unbelievable rate as the room slowly began to fill with cooked meat, vegetables not to mention delicious looking deserts.

Doing his best not to disturb them, Merlin discretely grabbed a small loaf of bread and a slice of cheese and headed back to the chamber Merlin had been working in all morning. Eating the last piece of cheese, Merlin picked up the doublet and boots and walked back to Arthur's chambers.

"There you are, it took you long enough," Arthur complained the moment Merlin walked into the prince's chambers.

"Sorry, I felt hungry so I quickly went to get something to eat..." Merlin apologized for no reason whatsoever.

"That's okay," Arthur smiled examining the doublet and boots Merlin held in his arms. "You've done a great job."

"Thanks," Merlin replied with a grin of achievement stamped across his face. "Is there anything else you need me to do?"

"Not that I can think of at the moment, but if there is then you'll be the first to know," Arthur replied as he thoroughly examined the boots.

Shrugging slightly, Merlin left the prince alone in his quarters as he now examined the doublet. He never noticed Arthur giving a slight smile as he left the room.

*

Where the hell was it? One hour Merlin had wasted trying to find the clothes Arthur wanted him to wear, and so far there was no sign of them anywhere. Giving up, he decided to ask Gaius if he knew where they were.

"Ah..." was the only thing that Gaius said after Merlin asked if he had any idea where they were. By the way Gaius was frowning, on top of the way he seemed to be hesitating to say anything else, wasn't very reassuring.

Gaius walked over to the other side of the room and pulled out the clothes from a small container which he had obviously placed them in. It looked perfectly fine at first glance, the doublet seemed to still be in perfect condition, but then as Gaius opened it slightly Merlin noticed a large hole in the back.

"I'm afraid the mice got to it," Gaius said as he lifted the doublet to eye level, Merlin could see right through the fist sized hole and couldn't help but gape.

"No," Merlin groaned as contemplated tearing the stupid thing then and there. Why did it have to be ruined?

"Do you think Morgana or Gwen will be able to mend it?" Gaius asked passing the doublet to Merlin who began running his hand over the soft material.

A spark of hope filled Merlin as soon as Gaius mentioned Morgana's name, of course she would be able to fix it! Perhaps not all was lost after all. Without saying a word, Merlin rushed out the door into the freezing cold, it was only then that he wished that he had put on something a bit warmer.

Pacing forward through the mild blizzard, Merlin made his way to the main doors of the castle, snow crunched under his feet as his body began to stiffen with every step. Examining the snow, memories came flooding back from when he was in Ealdor. Every time that it had snowed, Merlin would always rush outside and begin making snowmen directly in front of his house. As years past it became a tradition, sometimes even his mother would keep a small carrot tucked away to use as the nose.

Managing to tread through the snow, he finally found himself inside the main area of the castle. It was somewhat warmer now that he was out of the blizzard, but not by much.

Using the doublet to wrap around himself, Merlin made haste to Morgana's chambers. As soon as he found himself outside her door he knocked repeatedly until the door opened revealing Morgana in all her stunning beauty.

Draping elegantly off her was a dazzling red dress which seemed to shimmer like fire in the little light available. Around her neck was a single golden chain that made even the tiniest features of her face stand out like a beacon. By the looks of things, Merlin had interrupted her while she was in the middle of doing her hair, as she was clutching a brush in her left hand.

"Come in," she said opening the door further, giving Merlin enough room to squeeze past. "What can I do for you?"

"Well," Merlin shivered as a sudden cold draft filled the room, "I was kind of hoping that you would be able to fix this."

Lifting up the doublet so Morgana could see the hole, Merlin watched as she examined the hole for a moment. Reaching under her bed, she pulled out a small box full of the same small needles and spare bits of fabric from when they first helped make the doublet.

"Pass it here," she said picking a needle and a thin piece of thread. She then reached back under the bed and pulled out another box that was full of leftover scraps of material that were identical to the doublet.

Before long, Morgana had sowed up the hole almost perfectly. If Merlin hadn't of known there used to be a hole in the doublet, then he might have suspected it to be brand new.

"You're amazing! Thank you so much," Merlin felt his insides jumping up and down in excitement as he examined the blue doublet.

"Aren't I just?" Morgana replied proudly, blowing at her nails almost as if the task took almost no effort whatsoever. "So I take it you're coming to the ball tonight?"

"Arthur asked me to come with."

"Oh?"

"On a date..." Merlin said trying not to blush, but failed miserably.

Morgana's reaction wasn't quite what Merlin expected, she appeared to be drifting off as if she didn't even realise he was right in front of her.

"Merlin, I was wondering, but have you noticed any sort of _change_ in Arthur lately?" Morgana said biting her bottom lip nervously.

"What do you mean?" Merlin questioned as he wondered what she could possibly mean by 'changed'.

"As in has his personality changed at all?" Morgana asked rather seriously.

"Besides from the demanding, controlling, kind and somewhat irritating person he is?" Merlin listed as he raised an eyebrow. There were defiantly more attributes he could have listed, but then he would be here for days, and right now Merlin really needed to get ready for the ball. Already he could hear people rushing through the castle doing the last minute preparations.

"Yes," Morgana said with a rather forced tone of voice, it was almost as if she didn't want to ask him.

"Well... no, he's just the same old Arthur. The only real difference is that he's admitted that he loves me," Merlin gripped onto the doublet tightly and wandered over towards the door. "If you don't mind I need to get ready, everyone will be arriving soon."

"See you in a few hours," Morgana said with a smile as Merlin opened the door. He'd only managed to make it one step outside her chambers before she was calling him back in. "Oh, and Merlin, whatever happens tonight... I need you to be careful."

Merlin wanted to ask what she meant by that, but decided best not to.

*

Snow. That's all Arthur could see as he glanced out across the courtyard, just a thick layer of snow that covered everything in sight. Already the peasants were heading towards the castle entrance carry a small basket of food. Each family was expected to donate a tiny quantity of food for the festival.

So far Arthur had been waiting for Merlin anxiously at the entrance, he didn't care that he was freezing cold, all that he cared about was that Merlin got here soon otherwise the prince would have to go into the ball without him. At least the aqua doublet was keeping him fairly warm.

He hadn't worn it before tonight, which made it even more special as Merlin was the one who choose it for him. Merlin... if only his father understood how much he meant to Arthur. Hopefully by the end of tonight Uther would understand, if not then he had no idea what to do.

The sound of crunching snow echoed from the other side of the courtyard. Arthur could make out a shadowy figure running in his direction, and eventually he realised it was Merlin running towards him. Merlin waving whilst running towards him. Merlin falling over whilst waving while running towards him.

Arthur couldn't help but let out a laugh as he jogged over to help Merlin out of the snow, the poor boy had landed face first into the ground.

"Do you practice being an idiot?" Arthur grinned as he yanked Merlin up off the ground and began brushing off the snow that now covered him.

"Only as much as you practice being a prat," Merlin replied cheekily.

"You look beautiful," Arthur stated in awe as he examined Merlin thoroughly. Just like he requested earlier, Merlin was wearing the exact same clothes he wore the night he had invited him to dinner.

The doublet brought out Merlin's eyes more than anything. The deep colour of the material brought out the blueness of his eyes; you might have even mistaken them for being the ocean's surface if you got too close.

"I am _not_ beautiful!" Merlin stated causing Arthur to roll his eyes.

"Fine, you're handsome. Better?"

"Yes," Merlin answered with a small smile spreading across his face. "Do you mind if we get inside? I'm freezing here."

Placing his arm around _his_ lovers waist, Arthur quickly got both of them out of the snow and into the castle. Neither of them said a word as they navigated themselves through the crowd of people who were gathering inside the corridors. There were a few times Arthur felt really angry by the way people were looking at him with his arm securely placed around Merlin, but to be honest he didn't really care. If they had a problem with who he was, then they could just deal with it. He was still the same person... he just happened to like a guy instead of a girl.

As the doors to the main hall stood in front of them, the two gave each other a warm smile before Arthur placed a soft kiss on the corner of Merlin's mouth.

"Ready?" Arthur asked nervously. He didn't get nervous often, but right now he couldn't help but feel anxious.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Merlin whispered back in his ear. Taking a deep breath, Arthur pushed the doors to the hall open as the well lit interior blinded him.

*

If Arthur wasn't half drunk, then perhaps he would have had some common sense to excuse himself from his father's speech, but right now he was too busy ogling over Merlin who was sitting next to him.

So far his father had said nothing about Merlin joining him for the festival, but that didn't mean he wasn't happy about it. Arthur occasionally saw his father glaring coldly at Merlin from the other end of the table, but never said or did anything further that might provoke an argument.

Taking a glance around the room, Arthur saw a few familiar faces within the crowd, but at this current point in time their names were blanked out by wine.

Morgana was definitely the star of the night, even Arthur had to admit she looked absolutely stunning in every aspect. The red silk she wore looked like it could burn you just by touching it, which was probably a good idea not to because if the dress didn't burn him, Morgana surely would.

Usually she would be chatting away having a great time, but tonight Morgana appeared to be silent as she looked around the room almost as if she was waiting for something to happen.

Halfway through the night, Uther had at last finished his speech. Arthur still wasn't quite sure what it was about, but it really didn't matter because usually they were just an adaptation of the previous year. How he has tried to banish magic from the kingdom and the contributions of the citizens in fighting that goal.

Music suddenly began to fill the air as four musicians played traditional songs in the uppermost part of the room. One appeared to be playing a pan flute while the other three were playing lyra's. It wasn't often that Arthur heard such wonderful music, the pure essence of love and nature held within each note.

"May I have this dance?" Merlin asked as he stood up beside him. Arthur could have sworn that there was a hint of nervousness in the young servants voice, but that didn't stop Arthur from standing up and taking the boy by the hand.

"Only at your own risk," Arthur replied groggily. Little did Merlin know that dancing was _not_ one of Arthur's many talents.

Many people stared as Arthur placed his left hand around Merlin's waist. Taking up a small amount of space, Arthur attempted to spin Merlin on the spot but failed miserably much to Arthur's annoyance. Apparently his feet just and arms didn't want to do what he wanted them to.

"You're doing it all wrong," Merlin pointed out removing himself from Arthur's grasp. "Here, let me show you."

Arthur felt a surge of shock as Merlin grabbed his hand and placed it on top of the servants shoulder. He then placed his own hand around Arthur's waist gently as he interlocked their free hands together, before Arthur knew what to say they were dancing around the hall.

"See, it's easy," Merlin smiled widely, most likely extremely proud of himself.

"Oh shut up," Arthur couldn't help but laugh as Merlin caused him to spin outwards, recoiling the prince back into their original position once he could go no further.

"You're a professional," the boy stated as he leant in closer to Arthur, lightly kissing him on the cheek. Arthur felt tremendously embarrassed as he heard gasps from all around him, but instead of pulling away Arthur kissed Merlin back.

"Since when did you know how to dance?" Arthur asked curiously. Usually everything Merlin did ended up in a clumsy mess, but surprisingly he was doing exceptionally well at dancing.

"I don't," Merlin chuckled as he pulled both of them down into a dip. "I'm just making things up as I go along."

"Typical," Arthur mused quietly to himself.

There whispering and gasps from the crowd got louder with each passing second. Arthur turned his head to look over his shoulder only to see everyone staring in his direction, but not at him. Arthur glanced back at Merlin only to see his father lingering over the boy's body. Before he could do anything, Merlin was being dragged away from Arthur into the crowd, pulling his hair painfully. Arthur could feel the excruciating yanks his father was giving Merlin.

"Let go of him!" Arthur yelled out across the hall at his father.

A glint of something metal in his father's hand caused a growing fear of terror to rush through Arthur's mind. His father was holding a small dagger up to Merlin's throat, gently pressing the tip into the boy's skin. On his own throat he could feel the sharp piece of metal drawing a shallow cut, not deep enough to draw blood, but enough to cause Arthur to feel hopeless.

The guards around the room all stood with their swords and daggers at the ready.

Storming over to his father, Arthur gripped the King's shoulder and flung him off Merlin with an exceptional force. The fear of losing Merlin again to his father caused a strange feeling to wash throughout Arthur's body, something he felt the other day. Behind his eyes he felt a slight burning sensation; little did he know that they had momentarily flashed a weak gold colour as the guard's swords and daggers flew through the air, stopping inches away from his father in all directions.

Screaming began to fill the hall as people began running in all directions. Arthur looked over to Merlin thinking he had something to do with the swords, but the look on his face was both in shock and in terror. It was only then that Arthur realised what was going on. _He_ was controlling the swords, and _he_ had the power to end his father's life then and there.

_To be continued..._


	17. The End Is Where To Start

**A/N: **_Hey guys! As I promised, much to my dismay and tears, here's the final chapter. It's been an interesting month, and I'm so glad that so many people have enjoyed this story. Could everyone please review as I'd like to know what people think, this means criticisms are welcomes as this is my first ever attempt at a Merlin fanfiction, not to mention Merlin/Arthur. Also, I'd like to know if I should perhaps write another Merlin fic in the future? Ever since reading Merthurtilidie's Mordern AU, I've had the urge to write my own (And if you have no idea what I'm talking about you're missing out). So what do you guys think? Should I? Another note, I hope this chapter ties up any loose ends, and I'm very sorry if the ending seems a bit dragged out as I got stuck. Enjoy ad please review!_

* * *

Merlin's heart was racing as swords flew through the air in every direction, eventually stopping as they neared Uther. He was encased in a cage of swords from all angles, and if he even dared move the sharp blades would no doubt pierce the King's skin.

It only took a few moments to realise that what he had suspected was correct, Arthur was controlling the swords. It was the only logical explanation, but if he was aware of it or not was beyond Merlin entirely.

The moment Uther had pulled him away from Arthur and pushed the dagger against his throat, Merlin expected his life to end that very second. However this feeling was cut short by his saving angel as Uther was thrown onto the ground.

"Arthur..." Merlin began as he nervously stood next to the prince. "You don't need to do this, I'm okay now..."

"He hurt you Merlin," he whispered coldly through gritted teeth, "and as long as he lives he's just going to keep trying."

"You've changed..." Merlin said remembering Morgana's question earlier today. "I know you Arthur, and I know that you would never kill your own flesh and blood."

"Yes I would," Arthur replied as the swords in the air seemed to vibrate with anticipation.

"Please... Arthur, don't do this," Merlin pleaded.

As much as he would have no problem with Uther dying right this instant, Merlin didn't want to see Arthur kill his father in cold blood. It was stupid, but just by looking at the prince he couldn't help but be frightened by Arthur. Even the peasants and guests seemed to be terrified as they either lined the walls of the room or were rushing out the doorway.

"Arthur, I didn't mean it. I'm sorry about what I have done," Uther said quietly trying not to move too much as the swords seemed to press in closer to the King.

"Well sorry isn't good enough!" Arthur hissed taking a step forward towards his father. "So far all you've wanted to do is take Merlin away from me, not once thinking how it would affect me!"

"I was only doing what I thought was right..." Uther seemed positively frightened, and Merlin didn't blame him either.

Merlin felt almost as if he was splitting in half, this was not the Arthur he had come to love.

"What you thought was right!? You have no idea what is right for me or not! How did you feel when mother died? Upset? Lost? Well that's exactly how I feel when Merlin's not around, and I'm not letting you take him away from me!"

"What are you doing?" Uther cringed as the swords appeared to push him flat onto the ground. Arthur paced around his father as the swords pushed themselves as close to the King's body as possible.

"Something I should have done a long time ago."

Merlin grabbed Arthur's arm as he tried to make the prince realise what he was doing, what he was becoming.

"Arthur, please think about what you are doing," he said placing one of his hands on Arthur's tense shoulder, only for it to be brushed off harshly. Merlin felt as if his shoulder would dislocate under the prince's strength.

"I've thought about this long enough!" Arthur boomed loudly into Merlin's ear, so loudly in fact that his voice seemed to reverberate around the room causing Merlin to stumble backwards.

"Please, Arthur... stop," Merlin begged quietly, looking up at the prince through his eyelashes.

"Why!?" Arthur snapped at him almost as if he wanted to kill him also. "Why should I listen to you?"

Merlin felt tears well up in his eyes as he was taken aback by Arthur's reaction. He no longer knew what to say or do. It seemed that there was no use fighting with him anymore.

"Because you're breaking my heart!" Merlin yelled at the prince as he rushed out of the hall crying, navigating his way through the peasants who were still running around terrified.

Running as far away from the castle, Merlin headed straight back to his own room, making sure he locked the door behind him so nobody could get it. Gaius surprisingly wasn't home, the only conclusion that Merlin was able to come to was that the court physician was also at the ball, which meant he would have seen everything that had happened.

Once he'd made sure the door was locked, Merlin pushed his cupboard in front of the door just to make sure no one would be able to break the door down.

The moment Merlin's body hit the bed, he curled up into a ball as his breathes came out in heavy gasps. Suddenly feeling lightheaded, Merlin began having trouble breathing as the air suddenly felt thick and cloudy.

Standing up, Merlin began grabbing everything and anything that wasn't nailed to the floor and started throwing them around the room. After everything had been either tipped over, smashed, torn or mutilated, Merlin sat in the furthermost corner of the room and placed his head between his legs suddenly feeling nauseous.

Grabbing what was left of his shredded pillow Merlin rested his head on it and allowed himself to succumb to sleep, closing his eyes in hope that he would never wake up.

*

It only took a matter of seconds for Arthur to realise what he had done as Merlin left the room crying. At that instant, each one of the swords dropped to the ground in a clatter leaving Uther untouched. A few people screamed as the clanging of metal against the ground echoed throughout the hall.

"Oh god..." Arthur looked up at everyone around him almost as if he was some kind of monster. Even Morgana who was pressed firmly against a wall was staring at Arthur wide eyed.

His father lay on the ground silent, staring intensely at Arthur but not in hatred or fear, it was something else entirely that Arthur couldn't quite put his finger on.

Immediately he began to feel sick and rushed out of the hall until he could no longer hold back what had been brewing inside his stomach.

Waiting until his nausea subsided, Arthur searched everywhere for Merlin but with no luck, the only place Arthur had left to look was in Gaius's quarters.

Hoping that Merlin hadn't left Camelot, Arthur made his way through the snow until he came to Gaius's front door. After knocking on the door, he waited wondering why no one had answered already.

Opening the door, Arthur found the room empty except for the usual junk and books scattered everywhere.

"Merlin?" Arthur called out in hope that he was here somewhere. There unfortunately wasn't a reply.

Walking across the room and up the stairs which lead to Merlin's room, Arthur knocked on the door gently.

"Merlin, are you in there?" Arthur asked quietly, tapping on the door repeatedly. He was certain that he had heard a faint rustling sound from behind the wooden door, which was an almost sure sign that Merlin was in there.

Arthur went to open the door but it didn't seem to budge, obviously Merlin had locked it from the inside. Luckily, Arthur knew how to fix this problem and stuck his finger through a small hole in the door just next to where the latch was, but again he was faced with yet another problem. There was something solid on the other side that prevented his finger from moving any further than inside the actual hole.

"Merlin... I'm sorry for what I said. Please let me in, I really don't want to break the door down," Arthur waited for a while, but there was no reply. Sighing, he sat down on the top step and leaned back against the wooden door.

"It's really rude not to speak when spoken too," Arthur began talking to himself seeing that Merlin wasn't holding up his end of the conversation. "Fine, be like that. Don't talk to me, but please, just give me some sign, any sign that you forgive me."

"Go away..." a muffled voice said after a short period of time.

"Do you honestly think that I would just leave you alone? After what happened tonight?" Arthur asked softly, gently pressing his ear to the door so that he could hear Merlin better.

"I guess not..." Merlin replied. Arthur was certain that he'd heard the young boy cry for a moment.

"Can you at least let me in?" Arthur begged as he bit his bottom lip anxiously.

Silence followed, but eventually Arthur heard the sound of footsteps slowly pace towards the door. Not long after there was a hideous scratching noise as the object Merlin had placed in front of the door was pushed aside.

The door creaked open slightly to reveal Merlin, who was looking through the small gap in the door.

"What do you want?" Merlin snapped. Arthur only had to look at him to realise that he had been crying the entire time. His eyes were all puffy and red as thin trails of tears soaked Merlin's face all the way down to his chin.

Feeling as if he couldn't explain his actions earlier in a mere few words, Arthur tenderly placed his fingers over Merlin's face, wiping away the tears that had gathered there. Once the boys face was no longer wet, Arthur pulled Merlin in tightly and hugged him, and Merlin hugged back, burying his face into Arthur's chest only to begin crying again.

"Please don't cry..." Arthur asked, resting his own head on top of Merlin's.

"I'm not crying," Merlin denied as he pulled away from Arthur, discreetly wiping away his tears with his sleeve.

Walking inside the room, Arthur was shocked to see the state it was in. No, usually Arthur was use to Merlin's terrible cleanliness, but this was just horrific. The only thing in the room that hadn't been touched was the actual window; everything else was either smashed or damaged beyond repair.

In the centre of the room, Merlin's bed had been flipped over and was now propped up against the side wall. Books covered the floor with their pages torn out, making it almost impossible to see the floorboards underneath. Even the cupboard that Merlin had obviously used to block the door with, had been kicked in, leaving a nice foot shaped hole. Not to mention the little door had been ripped off its hinges and now inhabited a corner of the room.

"I love what you've done to the place," Arthur remarked unintentionally as Merlin sat down in a corner of the room, next to him was a pillow that had been ripped apart, feathers danced around on top of the paper as a slight draft filled the room.

"Why wouldn't you listen to me?" Merlin asked quietly as Arthur struggled to make his way through the mess, sitting down next to Merlin once he'd crossed the valley of chaos.

"Merlin... my father tried to hurt you, what else did you expect me to do? Let it be, forget everything almost like it never happened? After everything we have been through, if you died... I would never know what to do myself."

"That wouldn't be a problem, seeing that it's most likely you would die along with me..." Merlin pointed out as he allowed his head to drop onto Arthur's shoulder.

"That's not the point Merlin," Arthur replied, running his fingers through Merlin's hair which was no longer neat and tidy.

"I know," Merlin said looking deep into his eyes. The moment Arthur looked back, he quickly averted his sight. "How did you do that? With the swords I mean..." Arthur had completely forgotten about the swords, not to mention what he had done to his father.

"To be honest... I have no idea," Arthur admitted as he recalled the events from no more than half an hour ago. "I remember seeing my father holding that knife to your throat and that I felt scared, scared of losing you again. I don't know how I made those swords move, all I do know is that I lost you once, Merlin, and I'm not losing you again."

"Make this move," Merlin asked placing a half torn book in front of him.

"What?" Arthur looked at the object in confusion.

"Just try," Merlin asked as he sat up straight, pointing directly at the book.

Mumbling under his breath, Arthur stared intensely at the tattered book in front of him, occasionally thinking, '_move dammit!'_ In his head, but gave up once he began going cross eyed.

"It's not going to budge," Arthur stated as he raised an eyebrow at Merlin who was snickering to himself probably not as quietly as he thought.

"I swear your eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets," Merlin laughed. It was good to see Merlin smile again, for a moment Arthur thought he'd never see that beautiful smile again in his lifetime.

"Maybe it only works when you're in danger? It makes sense... I guess, my chambers, the hall," Arthur contemplated his theory, it was plausible at least.

Once Merlin had stopped laughing, he turned and faced him until their faces were separated by the tiniest amount of space.

"So what happens now?" Merlin asked softly.

"I... I don't know. Take everything one step at a time, I suppose," Arthur replied pressing his lips against Merlin's before looking down to the ground. "But I know this, I'm not letting my father touch you ever again."

Merlin smiled once again, a smile that raised Arthur's hopes and a smile that filled him with a warm sensation that he never knew was possible.

"You'll be a great King one day, Arthur. And when you are, I just hope that I'll still by your side to see it. Because as long as I live no matter what happens, I will _always_ be with you, Arthur. No matter what," Merlin grinned and cupped Arthur's face with his hands and kissed the prince passionately as they descended to the ground slowly.

*

As soon as his son left the hall, Uther felt many eyes burn holes straight through his body. It wasn't _his_ fault that he was reduced to such an unforgiving method to dispose of Merlin once and for all. Just seeing Arthur dance with that _slave_ was just completely out of line! Perhaps if the two of them had kept what they had discreet, maybe then he wouldn't have cared so much. But these were his people, _his_ kingdom, what were they going to think now that they knew his son was romantically involved with an ordinary servant, and not just any ordinary manservant, at that.

There was also the question on how in the world Arthur had used magic. Two things that Uther hated most and both were somehow entwined with his son's life. Maybe it was his destiny to be with Merlin? But that still didn't explain how he used magic.

Even though Arthur had been born of magic, no one knew except for himself and his trusted court physician. If Arthur really did conjure up magic to protect Merlin, then what else was his son hiding? Perhaps his son didn't understand it either, maybe it was just some sort of defence mechanism... That's exactly what it had to be, a defence mechanism.

Of course it never occurred to the King that his son might possibly be aware that he had magical abilities. Was is possible that Nimueh had given Arthur more than just life? If it was then there was no way Uther could reverse it, and he wasn't just going to kill his son, he wouldn't have the heart. Arthur was the only thing left in his life that he truly did care about, and if anything were to happen to him... Uther glared at everyone as he collected himself off the ground.

"Guards," he bellowed out across the room to the guards that still stood at their posts to assert back his authority, "go and see that everyone is alright." Once the guards had left, Uther scanned the room only to see that everyone was still staring at him.

"What are you staring at?" he snapped only to wish he hadn't, Morgana strode over with a deathly glow about her. Uther wasn't quite sure if it was the dress or her actual glare she was giving him, he soon decided it was a bit of both, especially when she slapped him across the face.

"You barstard," she hissed in pure hatred. "How could you do that to Arthur? Don't you realise how much Merlin means to him?"

"Quite," Uther said, spitting on the ground as he realised that his lip was bleeding. "You're making a scene, and I will-"

"I'm making a scene!?" Morgana interrupted. "Remind me again who just tried to kill Merlin in front of half the city of Camelot?"

"I will _not_ be spoken to by my ward like this!" Uther growled seizing Morgana's arm violently.

"What would you do, my lord? Kill me as well, in front of your own people? Look around you," Morgana said with no emotion whatsoever. Out of curiosity, Uther did what she said and looked around at his people staring at him with pale faces, their eyes widened with fear. It was only then that Morgana continued her lecture. "If this is how our King treats his people, then what will become of them? Just because someone is different, would you have them killed as well? Merlin is no monster and neither is Arthur, _you_ are the monster, my lord."

Uther stood in shock as he realised that Morgana's words were true. If he were to kill Merlin, then everyone would know he was responsible for the manservant's death. But this boy was different, so different in fact that he would be missed if something ever happened to him, and there was no doubt in the kings mind that if he did kill Merlin, his people would never see him the same way again.

Maybe it was best not to kill the boy after all... There were too many risks involved in achieving that goal now, not to mention almost the entire city.

He wanted so much for Arthur to be happy, but why Merlin? Why? Uther groaned as he felt the need to get drunk again, although he was only just recovering from an aweful hangover to begin with so it probably wasn't the best idea to get drunk again.

"So what do you plan on doing with Merlin?" Morgana pushed for an answer, and Uther knew exactly what to say. Somehow he knew that he was going to regret it in the long run, but right now he saw no other option.

"Nothing," Uther hissed as his eyes flickered away from Morgana. "I'm going to do nothing."

Morgana smiled brightly and without saying another word, walked away. The crowed that lined the walls began exiting the room as the King rubbed his forehead before heading back to his seat where he poured himself another goblet of wine.

It was clear that his son loved Merlin, and even more clear now after what happened tonight. Swallowing the liquid in one gulp, Uther closed his eyes and wondered what would become of his existence now. His son was in love with his manservant, he also seemed to possess magic what next?

Sighing, Uther thought of the rough times ahead. If Arthur was to be with Merlin, then that was the end of it. Although his son would have to produce an heir with a woman, he would allow Arthur to continue his relationship with Merlin. But until the day Arthur would be crowned king, he would allow the prince to have some fun. All he wanted was his son to be happy.

_fin._


End file.
